|
Let me preface my comments with the observation that legalizing drugs does not imply that we condone drug use.
I think the vast majority of private citizens and politicians labor under this miscalculation. The strongest argument for changing our drug laws is the cause of freedom, for in a truly free society the issues of personal preference are sacrosanct, rightly left to the individual, even when they involve a self-destructive habit. While it is a tragedy for any human being to become a hopeless addict, it should be their choice. I've heard all the arguments against legalization; the pregnant mother who is a user imposes a terrible hardship on her unborn child. The father who is irresponsible and allows his family to live in squalor to support his habit. Certainly these, and many other consequences, would come to pass, but I suggest that those conditions are already present in our society and legalized drugs would not necessarily contribute to a quantum leap in drug use. Numbers aside, freedom is the paramount issue. Any hardship that may visit a small minority of our citizens, whether they be voluntary or otherwise, is not a justification for limiting the freedom of all. Some will contend that drug laws only limit the freedom of potential users, protect them from their own weakness, and that may be true, but in a society where law makers are empowered to regulate one aspect of our lives, they extend that prerogative to other issues, and sooner or later they parlay their distortion of legislative power to the point of tyranny. We can look to God, and his governance, as the ultimate template for our own conduct in these matters. While He has the power to regulate us in all things, His mandates for divinely ordained government leave the matter of moral conduct to His own judgement, and not the fiat of man. Any time you limit freedom there is a backlash! When our government passes laws that restrict our right to self determination that illegal activity becomes a fertile domain for criminality. Prohibition certainly demonstrated this fact. We all know the sordid history of Capone and his ilk. Their rampant crime spree spilled blood on the streets of Chicago like a full scale war, but that all came to an abrupt halt when booze was legalized once again. Remove the profit motive and the criminal's incentive is eliminated. Legalized drugs would drive the price down and make drugs available to anyone who desires to use them, just like alcohol. The dealers would disappear from our school yards, the meth labs from our middle class neighborhoods, pushers from our street corners. The penalty for illegal drug sales would be too harsh for the limited gain. Another area of crime would be eliminated as well, the thousands of muggings and robberies by addicts to support their expensive habit. Legal drugs would make them available at a fraction of the cost that they sell for now. It is a myth that legalization would result in an explosion of drug addiction. I've got some bad news, neighbor... anyone who wants drugs can get them now! What's more, the availability of drugs in our schools, and in the youth culture, is staggering. Kids that want drugs can get them now, and millions of them do. The bottom line is that we don't live in a perfect world. Far from it. Regardless of what measures we take in any venue there are those who choose to practice foolishness, discrimination, Satanic cults, and all manner of transgressions on the dark side. The answer to these problems is not limiting freedom. This is the lie that Satan keeps alive in our midst. I would point out that the most moral governments in the world are Communist regimes. This is how the Chinese Commies gained the support and cooperation of the Inland Chinese Missions when Mao seized power. They made opium illegal, and many other morally reprehensible activities, and the ignorant, legalistic Christians assumed that this was good for the Chinese people. We are fools if we surrender our liberty for the false hope of creating a Utopian society. |