Hi everyone, i'm from New Zealand and over here the party drug BZP has been legal for several years but has just recently been made illegal. This got me thinking as to why goverments all over the world pursue this naive notion of prohibition as a solution to the drug problem in modern society?
I then had the thourght that maybe its because they just can't come up with another solution themselves, so I decided to wright an article about one that I came up with.
I wanted to post it here to get some feedback from you guys on the positives and negatives of this potential solution. comments appreciated.
The Drug Problem
Looking back on history it has become blindingly apparent that the drug problem is not going to go away just by making the drugs illegal. Human beings have been using substances for thousands of years to alter consciousness, relieve pain and to experience extremes of pleasure and the desire to do so is not going to go away simply by criminalizing their use.
Society is eventually going to have to face and accept the fact that prohibition does not work, there is always going to be a portion of the population that uses drugs for various reasons whether they are prohibited or not.
So the question arises ‘How can we as a rational society deal the with the drug problem effectively?’ We already know from previous experiences that outright prohibition never works and that without fail a black market always arises for the prohibited substance because the consumer demand doesn’t go away. Black markets provide large amounts of money and power to those who are willing to break the law and there is no form of regulation on the products that are sold, often resulting in contaminated and dangerous products and sale to minors.
The prohibition of drugs was I believe to try to protect people from their potential negative effects namely addiction, violent or self-destructive behaviour and the psychological troubles some people experience when using certain substances. However these three problems were only escalated by prohibition because people who display them are considered ‘criminals’ in the eyes of the law and often try to hide their problems due to the threat of punishment under the law and also the negative stigmas associated with drug using.
The prohibition of drugs did not eliminate the desire of people to use them and only made it more dangerous for them to do so.
So it seems to me that the only rational thing to do to a law, that not only didn’t solve the problem it was meant to solve but made it worse, is to abolish that law and come up with another way to deal with the problem.
Solution?
A possible solution that I conjured up and I am sure that’s its not an original idea is that we as a society could licence people to use drugs just as we licence people to drive on the roads. Anyone wishing to become a licensed drug user would first have to meet certain criteria.
The first of these criteria would have to be an age limit, this limit could be fixed (e.g.20 or 25) or it could vary from drug to drug depending on their potential dangers.
The second of these criteria would be some kind of test to assess mental stability. This could be preformed by psychiatrists and would be based on mental history and previous drug experiences (and possibly other things suggested by the psychiatrists). They would also have to pass a test on drug safety and agree to certain licence conditions (e.g. you can not use substance X in public or in the presence of children) in which the breaking of these conditions would then result in fines or lose of licence.
Once the hopeful candidate has passed the psychiatric and other tests they would be issued with an ID card containing a microchip or magnetic strip which would hold the users drug purchasing history. The licence holders would then be able to purchase their drugs from specialist government regulated drug stores. Licence holders would have fixed amounts that they would be allowed to purchase within certain time periods thus minimising the risk of addiction. Taking one of the most addictive drugs, heroin, as an example, users might be able to buy say 1 dose per week. The actual safest time frames and dosages would have to be established from medical and toxicity data.
This system would provide a safer means for users to obtain their drugs because the drug stores would be government regulated and the purity and dosage of the drugs would be standardised and monitored, as apposed to street drugs which can be impure and of unknown dosage. It is also safer for any users who suffer unforeseen negatives effects from a drug, because they can then seek medical assistance/advisement without fear of punishment.
This system would also be beneficial for non-drug using members of the public for several reasons. Firstly it would take the power away from dangerous gangs and criminal syndicates for whom prohibition is an endless goldmine. It would also make it a lot harder for underage users to get a hold of potentially dangerous substances. Thirdly because licence holders will have been established as being mentally stable it decreases the chances of mentally unstable people using drugs and posing a risk to the community. Also I haven’t done the math but I am pretty certain that this system would cost a lot less to implement than the current ‘war on drugs’ costs per year.
Also once the system is set up and running it would generate large amounts of tax dollars through drug sales, which could then be used for beneficial purposes within the community. Finally it would free up a lot of police time which could then be used for dealing with more important issues.
This system would I believe create the safest environment for everyone in societies/civilisations/cultures for whom drug use is a constant throughout history and throughout many demographics.
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