The corrupt use morality to fuel hysteria.
The War on Drugs started as a moral crusade.
Only it was a con.
What the War on Drugs accomplished was extended the power of the government over free people and the loss of their rights.
The War on Drugs enriched the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels.
The War on Drugs enriched police departments at every level of government.
The thing is, it did not work. If it had worked, people - criminals, politicians, and policemen - would have lost money.
The same scenario is playing out in Canada. Take a look at Taylor C. Noakes' The Opioid Crisis Is Surging. We’re Still Ignoring Experts from The Walrus. It could be here in the States, including the following:
Eby is also trying to assuage nervous voters. While there is substantial empirical evidence supporting decriminalization and safer supply as two effective strategies to address the drug epidemic, polling indicates only a slim majority of Canadians favour the approach. According to a 2023 survey conducted by the federal government, 62 percent of respondents thought decriminalization would improve access to health and social services, but 51 percent feared it could lead to increased harms, such as overdoses. It’s unclear how well versed respondents were in the science behind decriminalization and safer supply, but when the public is so split on an issue, it can be hard to stay the course on controversial initiatives.
In other words, while following expert advice would result in better policy, it’s politically dangerous. The aversion to experts’ suggestions for dealing with the drug epidemic has led to a situation where fear triumphs over evidence and reason, harming the most vulnerable and marginalized people in our society.
Going back to Muncie in 2021 with The Muncie Star-Press' Officials defend return of Muncie-Delaware County Drug Task Force:
Last year, amid a national debate over police practices sparked by the Minneapolis death of George Floyd, there were calls by some for a reduction in — or even an elimination of — laws concerning drugs.
"I don't know how anyone could think, let's legalize the hard-core drugs, (like) heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine," Hoffman said. "You wouldn't have a society. You would not have an ordered society, that's for sure. Legalizing those hard-core drugs is not the answer to anything.
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Skinner and his chief deputy, Jeff Stanley, both served with the previous city-county drug task force.
"There's always a demand," said Stanley, as a deputy assigned to drug investigations for 15 years. "We're right off (Interstate) 69, and we call it the drug pipeline. From Detroit to Fort Wayne to Marion to Muncie to Indianapolis and on further south.
"Demand is here. It's always going to be here. We're going to do the best we can to curb it."
And why is there a demand? Not asked, never asked.
Where there is demand, there will be supply. That is the basic tenet of capitalism.
Reason Magazine, that bastion of libertarian thought, brings the issue back to America and now with Don't Blame Dealers for Fentanyl Deaths. Blame Drug Warriors.
These attempts to convert accidental overdoses into homicides are dangerous as well as morally dubious. They "cost lives because fear of prosecution deters people from seeking help in an emergency," the DPA argues. "Drug-induced homicide prosecutions may have the unintended consequence of people failing to seek medical help in a drug overdose situation, resulting in increased likelihood of death."
Prohibition, in short, created the hazard that killed Gentili. It compounded that hazard by fostering the use of additives such as fentanyl and the animal tranquilizer xylazine (which was also detected in Gentili's blood). And it made the resulting overdoses more perilous by discouraging prompt intervention. The answer, according to Peace and Caban, is zealous enforcement of the same laws that produced this disaster.
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If Americans truly demanded accountability from "those responsible" for drug-related deaths, they would start with the politicians and law enforcement officials who are perversely committed to making drug use as dangerous as possible.
Dealing with the demand side is not profitable to politicians or law enforcement.Law enforcement loses out when drug addiction is treated as the public health problem that it is.
Oh, two headlines from today's Muncie Star Press:
- Muncie man held on fentanyl-dealing charge after police chase
- Judge orders Muncie officers fired over drug allegations to be rehired
sch 8/19
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