This is an article written by Josh Evans, a Student Government Senator at the University of Houston who is one of the most articulate individuals I know. I hope you enjoy his piece of prohibition.

Too often, money is equated with efficacy. And when it comes to halting the drug trade as we know it, this misguided notion is perpetuated blindly. Most people do not want to see problems, and few people bother to understand narcotic-smuggling. They just want our government to throw more money at the problem.

The clamor for morals tends to drown out any lone voice that dares to imagine a new idea. Some people want their morals to mean something so much, to others especially, that they continue to push their morals, hoping that one day they will become effective. It is both desperation and denial.

In the 1920s and 30s, the technology of a Ford Model-T, shotgun, tommy-gun, grenades, and the willingness to criss-cross the Canadian border made acquiring and distributing liquor an easy task. The Model-T, a new invention in America at the time, allowed the smugglers to race around towns and over the hills to Canada. The demand for the outlawed product was there: the speakeasies, or night clubs, brought people together looking for entertainment in the form of song, dance, and booze.

Government could not cope. It had too few cops that couldn’t be everywhere at once, too many other crimes to attend to, and too little money to pay for more cops. I am reminded of a Brian de Palma film: The Untouchables. It’s about a noble, bulldog detective set out to capture Al Capone’s gang when he ran Chicago as his own playground. If only there were so many noble individuals in all the cities of America. In reality, Capone was eventually arrested for tax evasion, for not reporting his illegal income. He violated a national law; the State of Illinois could not even get him.

The same morals that demand the outlawing of narcotics and demand punishment for their use are the same morals from the 1930s prohibition. Cops were bribed, a Mayor had to ignore the problem because his cops didn’t listen to him but instead reported to the gangster, and everyone else has to dance around the lawbreaking. Those morals didn’t stop the cop from taking the bribe, and they don’t stop the same problems we have today.

When a new Mayor of Chicago was elected, previously claiming he would put Capone away, Capone simply moved outside the jurisdiction of the City of Chicago. He moved to a neighboring town and actually took over its government, killing 200 people to create his sanctuary.

It took 6 or 7 years to stop one man and his pursuit of profit. Hundreds died during those few years. And back then the technology was only a Model-T, shotguns, rifles, and grenades. And it was used to simply acquire and sell alcohol, something almost every American drinks, regardless of ethnic and religious background. Yes, even some Muslims drink it today in this country; quite the demand alcohol possesses.

There were many Capones, and many more now.

Today, the product isn’t alcohol, and there are a lot of new products we call “hard drugs.” They sell themselves. Our problems are not in only Chicago, Illinois. And the technology used by the criminals is the same technology our corporations and military rely on. International financing, business models, radar, speedboats, bullet-proof armor and vests, automatic rifles, bombs (not simply grenades), cell phones we haven’t seen, and so much more. Even the cops paid to fight for it don’t have those tools and weapons. And the criminals have so much more money to play with, and don’t need to wait every four years to get tough, like some countries do with “reform” candidates who promise to stop the criminals to get elected. Criminals can be tough all the time.

It’s an uneven playing field, and the criminals are the victors.

Turn to Laredo, TX, and its Mexican sister city, Nuevo Laredo. Hundreds of deaths in a few short years. A great spot to transport drugs on our border, one of many. And plenty of cops who cannot or will not fight the criminals. When one bold man was made the new “Chief of Police” of Nuevo Laredo, vowing to fight the druglords, he marked himself as target numero uno. The day he officially took the job, he was executed, bullet to the brain. The criminals even shot a Mexican Congressman when he visited the city: They shot a lawmaker. The government took a direct hit in that instance. At that point, the area is officially lawless, and run only by greed.

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-32328473_
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-29708149_ITM
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-05-17-nuevo-laredo-cover_x.htm

And didn’t Gordon Gekko say “Greed is good,” in the 80s hit movie, Wall Street. Adam Smith was on to something when he said each individual’s selfishness could be used for the common good; his belief only required the appropriate laws to make selfish transactions suddenly become legal. Wasn’t this the country that believed in Liberty and markets? And couldn’t this country allow you to buy and sell these products, to end the smuggling, to end the lawlessness, and to the end the violence?

Our government actually pays, with the money it takes from your check, the country of Mexico to fight our shared drug problem. We pay for it here and there.

We, the People, cannot afford to pay for more of the same problems. We cannot condone a method that has contributed to the empowerment of criminals and allowed them to run rampages across the land. When the military of Mexico is ordered to fight a lawless region, that should tell you how bad things have become. The situation is a tragedy when you consider the military of that country has been complicit in drug trafficking, and is ordered to “fight” a problem is has helped create.

Money can be taken from the criminals, so they will not be able to buy their advantages, by allowing common folk anywhere to buy and sell these products.

We can stop throwing money at the problem, and instead let people make money on the situation the legitimate way. We do not have to encourage our young people to use these products, and can continue the education in our schools that demonstrates these “hard drugs” are not healthy.

We don’t have to stop the Good Fight; we just cannot afford to continue the bad one.

Tags: alcohol, drug policy, prohibition, ssdp