We certainly do not want our kids to become addicted to drugs or have prostitutes walking our neighborhoods. But by criminalizing drugs and prostitution, we have made these products and services extremely profitable and have created huge criminal enterprises and street-level hustlers who are highly motivated to get people hooked on drugs and human sex trafficking, creating exactly the opposite of the desired effect.
One only has to look back on the past decades littered with countless ruined lives and dead bodies to know that the huge profits from drugs and sex have led to great temptations and unspeakable acts. One only needs to look to Mexico, Colombia and neighborhoods across our country struggling for their very existence against drug cartels, drug dealers and pimps to know we have not stopped evil. We have created more of it.
It seems clear to me the time has come for our country to try a different approach. It is time to eliminate excessive profits from the drug trade and do a better job protecting prostitutes from physical violence, financial abuse and disease: This means decriminalization and government regulation. And as sad as it is when someone becomes addicted to drugs or decides to sell their body for sex, decriminalization and regulation will have substantially fewer negative side effects for individuals and our society than the current situation. Spending money on prevention programs, counseling and detoxification seems a lot more humane and cost effective than the huge amounts of money we currently spend on the Drug Enforcement Agency, the police and the 500,000 people in U.S. prisons for drug-related charges.
While this stand on drugs was once only the providence of hippies and ultraliberals, there is now a prestigious organization – the Global Commission on Drug Policy, whose board includes ex-presidents of Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Switzerland, the former secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, as well as former Secretary of State George Shultz and former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker – advocating for the decriminalization of all drug use. And we only need to look to Nevada, the Netherlands and New Zealand to see that legalizing prostitution has led to a significant improvement for the health and welfare of all parties involved – not to mention increased tax revenue for the governments.
When will we look back to the prohibition of alcohol in this country from 1919 to 1933, what lessons should we have learned? England, which chose stringent regulation over prohibition, was more effective at reducing the negative consequences of alcohol consumption than the United States – and in the meanwhile generated substantial revenues. When we finally ended prohibition, we discovered in the following decades that regulation was just as effective in controlling consumption.
So the questions remain: How long will it be before we learn the lessons of history? How long before common sense rises above knee-jerk reactions? How long before we realize criminalizing some urges does not reduce them, but only inspires criminal enterprise to encourage them and feed them?
Richard Zipper is a Golden ID student taking classes in biology. He can be reached at zipper@umdbk.com.
