Recently, I had an exchange with a drug warrior at Reload, my main site for posting drug war news and info. In a response to a breakdown I'd done of something he'd written online, he made these remarks in my comments:
Whose right is it to promote morality then? God? Religion? Those seemed to have worked great over the years. Geez, it's as if you have no understanding of history. Of course government dictates morality...they call them laws.
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I would love to prohibit alcohol, but it's completely inpractical, we both know that. I'll stick to what can continue to be illegal.
His argument points towards a clear conclusion: Government has the role of dictating morality, but unless it's supported by the majority of people, it will fail. I pressed him on this and he responded:
Next, often times government will pass laws, knowing very well they are difficult to enforce. Why are they passed? Because a majority of people feel that it's the moral or correct thing to do. In a democracy,(especially in a plurality system such as the US) for better or worse the majority rules.
There's no question that this has generally been true throughout American history, but it's also pretty obvious that it's almost never a good thing. Moral majorities once dictated bans on interracial marriage, homosexuality, abortion, and a number of other things that are correctly legal today. An individual's basic rights should not be subject to the will of the majority. Much of this was the intention of our founding fathers, even though it's taken many generations to actually get it right. He continued to challenge this very basic belief:
The laws that are passed are generally a result of the majority party who runs under a platform that the majority of constituents agree with. Therefore whether Lee admits it or not, government does dictate morality, and in an organized and democratic society this is the only way it can be.
Now I bring this up because this person wasn't a Bush-following authoritarian wingnut. He was the head of the College Democrats at San Diego State University. You can read the full exchange I had with him in these three posts. It's a good reminder of how easy it can be for a progressive outlook to become a threat to civil rights. Alcohol prohibition in the 1920s was a product of the progressive movement at that time. It was brought about by people who believed that we could improve society through government. And by building moral majorities opposed to alcohol, they were able to get it banned. But as we all know, the experiment in prohibition failed miserably, even though it was supported by the majority of the people.
The parallels to the current drug prohibition are clear to anyone who takes the time to study what's happening. Prohibitions don't fail or succeed based upon popular support. They fail because government simply doesn't have the ability to impose morality in order to protect people from themselves. And with the drug war and the effects that it's had on some of our basic rights, like free speech and being secure from unreasonable searches, government inefficiency and waste is only the beginning of why it's failing us. If you want to envision a nightmare scenario for what the progressive movement could devolve into, check out this answer when I asked this young Democrat about banning cigarettes:
Absolutely. If it is blatantly and intentionally harmful, it should not be legal. I didn't say a black market will be created via a surgeon general's warning. You missed the point as usual. The point is, laws are implemented every day and new ones are constantly coming up combating the sale and usage of tobacco products. You can hardly smoke in certain states now. Only in your own home. There will be many, many more laws, which will eventually lead to abolition.
I do believe that government serves a purpose and is necessary for a number of things. But it's important that we know its limits if we want the progressive movement to bring about more social and economic justice in the world. Laws shouldn't exist to dictate a moral majority. They should exist to provide a fair system of justice for our myriad interactions with each other. The progressive movement will go nowhere if it doesn't begin with this basic understanding, and the progressive movement will also go nowhere if it doesn't recognize that the drug war has become an even bigger nightmare than alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, and needs to be dismantled immediately.
Over the past two weeks...
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Regional News - U.S. and Canada
- A survey showed that most Americans are fine with voting for candidates with past drug use.
- A report in the Archives of General Psychiatry shows a link between cocaine and amphetamine use a higher risk for strokes.
- April 12 was National D.A.R.E. Day.
- The Washington State House passed the controversial, watered-down version of the medical marijuana bill that aimed to protect patients from arrest.
- An investigation into two Seattle police officers cleared them of wrongdoing in drug cases. Dominic Holden has more.
- Police in Pullman, WA raided an apartment and uncovered a secret tomato-growing operation.
- The Medical Board of California is investigating doctors who have raised suspicion over their medical marijuana recommendation practices. The state is trying to collect sales taxes from the dispensaries. Alex Coolman talks about the tax issue.
- Raids against drug gangs in Los Angeles netted 22 people, but not a lot of drugs or money.
- A panel in Nevada recommended approaches on how the state should deal with methamphetamines.
- Mike Tyson will face trial in August for drug charges after being pulled over in Arizona last year.
- Utah is opening a detox facility for police officers who've been contaminated from home-based meth labs.
- A Colorado prison inmate died after swallowing several bags of drugs.
- Arrests for marijuana in Denver have gone up since the city voted to make it legal to possession a personal amount. Tony Ryan from LEAP wonders what happened to "protect and serve."
- The Montana legislature is deciding whether to start funding the up-till-now privately funded Montana Meth Project.
- A medical marijuana patient in Missoula, MT is in trouble with the law after a package of her medicine was confiscated by federal agents.
- The DEA continues to prevent two North Dakota farmers from growing industrial hemp, despite the protests of the state's Agriculture Commission.
- A bill was introduced into the Texas House Human Services Committee that would end the ban on food stamps for drug felons.
- A 15-year-old in Dallas may have died from "cheese", a drug consisting of heroin and over the counter medicines. Alfredo Corchado writes about why it's so easy for 15-year-olds in Dallas to get their hands on dangerous drugs.
- An 8-month-old baby in Richland Hills, TX tested positive for several drugs.
- A Louisiana middle school teacher was busted for smoking marijuana with some teenage students.
- A St. Louis legislator wants to ban baking soda because it's used to make crack.
- A panel at Illinois State University discussed the dangers of prohibition.
- An Illinois police dispatcher was fired and charged for alerting people that a drug raid was coming their way.
- An Indiana police officer was arrested for allegedly selling morphine pills.
- A small Michigan town received money from the New York Police Department for providing them with a tip that led to the arrest of a drug dealer.
- David Arquette was one of the speakers at this year's very chilly Hash Bash in Ann Arbor.
- A Youngstown, OH police lieutenant was sentenced to four years in prison for drug crimes.
- Cincinnati renewed its harsh marijuana possession law.
- A debate at the University of Louisville on legalization ended with the pro-legalization side winning.
- A former Mississippi Police Chief pled guilty to several drug charges.
- A woman riding a horse in Alabama was charged with DUI.
- A police officer in northern Alabama was busted for illegally buying prescription drugs from an undercover officer.
- A man tried to get a loan at a Florida bank to pay for his crack-cocaine binge.
- A bill was defeated in the Alabama legislature that would have allowed higher alcohol content beers to be sold in the state.
- Florida Governor Crist is backing a plan to give non-violent felons the right to vote once they are released from prison.
- A North Carolina police officer was arrested on drug charges.
- Allen Iverson's stepfather was arrested in Newport News, VA for possession of crack-cocaine.
- A Virginia man who was growing marijuana for his wife with multiple sclerosis faces a possible 30-year jail sentence.
- A rural Pennsylvania attorney is accused of accepting marijuana as payment for legal services.
- There will be a protest against the war on drugs on 4/20 at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. 420 Guy is posting information about other rallies around the country.
- A New York man was the first person arrested under the 2005 Combat Meth Epidemic Act for buying too much cold medicine.
- A corrections officer in New York was convicted of smuggling heroin into the prison where he worked.
- Five New Haven, CT narcotics officer were fired for corruption after they were arrested.
- Rhode Island lawmakers are working on a bill to extend the state's medical marijuana law.
- Former Senator Lincoln Chafee will be a speaker at a Students for Sensible Drug Policy conference hosted by Brown University in Providence.
- Researchers in Boston discovered that there are a number of problems with student drug testing.
- A Maine legislator has introduced a bill that would strengthen the state's medical marijuana law.
- LEAP member Peter Christ spoke a group in Maine about the need to legalize drugs.
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