The Drug War is completely fucked up. Illegal recreational drugs are more readily available
and less expensive than they've ever been, in my lifetime anyway (I'm 29). I'll give you two examples, on the flip. See also this awesome diary by Yoss called
Losing Afghanistan to the War on Drugs.
- In the Bay Area in 2006, high-grade cannabis is available for $50. for 3.5g (1/8 oz) if you know the right people. That's about a month's supply for a moderate daily smoker. It gets better. No need to actually, you know, smoke pot anymore. $159 gets you the Hot Box Vaporizer. I ordered one of these from the store I linked and I am 100% satisfied. If you have some extra cash to throw around and want to buy the Rolls-Royce of vaporizers, there's the Volcano Vaporizer from Germany for $540. A good vaporizer will drastically reduce toxins in marijuana smoke, according to the study I linked, conducted by Cal NORML/MAPS. The smoke doesn't hurt your lungs or leave any lingering pot smell. So, the War on Pot has clearly failed and it's never been a better time to be a stoner.
- Let's look at heroin, a drug far fewer of us have any first or second-hand experience with (I certainly don't). That's why I was floored to hear this in the Penn & Teller Bullshit episode on the War On Some Drugs (Season 2, Episode 4):
P: In the early 1970s, if the French Connection had piqued your interest in smack, heroin cost $30 per bag and was 5% pure drug. We picture a box of donuts and getting this much [holds up 1/2 a donut] actual donut.
P: Today, heroin is available in every city in the US, and it costs $4 per bag and is 80-90% pure. Adjusting for inflation, the same money that would've bought this much [1/2 donut] pure lethal pleasure in 1970, now gets ya this much [pan back to Teller holding up a stack of donut boxes twice as tall as Penn].
P: Heroin is more than 600x cheaper than it was before the War on Drugs. It's hard to pass up a bargain like that. Heroin is cheaper than a six-pack and easier for kids to get (ya see, drug dealers aren't checking ID). So, what are the Feds accomplishing by spending our money and taking away our freedom?
So drugs are cheaper than ever except that they cost us huge amounts of taxpayer money, gives the state and federal governments an excuse to throw a number of otherwise innocent people in jail for long periods of time (many for simple pot possession), and enrich a number of crooked cops and "honest dealers". Plus we're taking away the single crop that Afghani farmers can grow (they have neither the water nor the fertilizer and equipment to grow any other cash crops) and helping to fund terrorism in Colombia and in the Islamic world (OTOH, most weed is grown domestically so at least cannabis users are generally not "helping the terrorists").
I can think of only one rational argument to continue the war and it's pretty weak. More people would certainly smoke pot or try other "soft drugs" if they were legal. Some people (the Drug Warriors) would claim that the productivity or "moral fiber" of the country would be harmed by this. These are generally the same sorts of people who get bothered by gay people having sex in the privacy of their own homes and schools teaching sex ed to teenagers.
Others, hedonists like me, think that if you enjoy doing drugs, and you're responsible enough to use them in enough moderation not to screw up your life in the process (case studies: cocaine and O.J. Simpson, Andy Dick, and any number of other washed-up celebrities), more power to you.