Rebuttal – 1.23.2008

  Here is an interesting comment on my column “Why We Need the Drug War”.

“I rarely leave messages on other people’s blogs. Especially people who like to speak on a subject they seem to have no authority to speak on.
 
The ideals of your post could be thwarted by a high school stoner. Lets start with your statement about people robbing and stealing to support a drug habit. If drugs were legalized, and I don’t entirely support that, there would be no black market. Drugs would be CHEAP. Do people rob and steal for alcohol? Not generally. Point 1 goes to the drug addict with the missing brain cells.
 
While we are talking about brain cells. Did you know that Alcohol kills more brain cells than pot? Also, did you know that the brain cells destroyed by marijuana rejuvenate? Yep, short-term-memory cells indeed rejuvenate. Those killed by alcohol are gone forever. Point 2 goes too the stoner with no brain cells who victimizes himself on a daily basis.
 
Lastly, the intravenous users you mentioned who spread AIDS and HIV through saliva and mucus. That’s fucking hilarious. You couldn’t get AIDS from saliva if you drank a bucket of it. Who does your research for you? As for AIDS being a deadly disease, just ask any homosexual you know if he has any friends with AIDS. I guarantee you that none of them are dying. They have the cocktail down now. No one in this country dies from AIDS anymore. Magic Johnson? Tommy Morrison? Oh, and those needles you mentioned that everyone is sharing. If the government used more of its resources to provide needle exchanges for the users and less on incarcerating them, the rate of transfer for infectious disease amongst addicts would drop significantly. I think maybe you ought to just STFU and find a subject you are qualified to blog on. Good day.”
 
–Nick (nyates5179@gmail)

I’ll divide my response into the following points:

Point 1 – CHEAP DRUGS ENDING THE BLACK MARKET

To distribute drugs at a “cheap” rate, government must first acquire the required drugs. Then they must establish distribution centers for addicts to receive their drug(s) of choice. There are several problems in the execution of such a plan. For one thing, does anyone really think that the global drug cartels are really going to just hand their narcotics over to the government without a fight? Without their trade, they are out of a job and the bank will foreclose on those fancy villas and repo their private jets. Not exactly happily ever after for them.

So the government will still need to run a drug interdiction campaign, or pay the cartels to hand the narcotics. That approach will fail, because the cartels may make nice money off the sale to the government, but their profits will not be as great as they were since the government will be controlling the prices, selling the drugs, and reaping the profits. That is important to note. Human nature being what it is people who have been living the high life and at the top of food chain don’t like losing their power. That is why that approach will fail.

Also, the government would have to acquire enough narcotics so that the demand would not outstrip the supply. Addicts don’t want to go to a drug distribution center and be told that there is not more crack, crystal meth, pot, heroin, etc. In their minds, they want their drug and they want it now dammit! When demand would outstrip supply, where would addicts go? Back to the corner dealers, that’s where. When they couldn’t find the money to pay the corner dealer (because they addicts who can’t hold down a job) where would they get that money? They would rob, steal, and burglarize (all of which are different in the legal system). Rob is threatening someone with force, stealing is taking something while the victim is unawares, and burglarizing is entering the home or vehicle of the victim and taking valuable objects. Also, price of the drugs wouldn’t matter to the addict as long as they had a dependable supply of their next high; they would simply rob, steal, and burglarize as much as they would need to feed their habit.

There is something else to consider. Prescription pain killers have been being abused for years and they are perfectly legal. This abuse is also not a “victimless crime” and I know that from personal experience. For almost fifteen years, a family member of mine has been abusing prescription drugs of all kinds. That is three years shorter than I have been alive. This family member has turned other family members against each other, almost dragged others down with her, caused tremendous amounts of pain and suffering in other people, and never looked back. All of this destruction just so she can pop pills and get high. Fortunately, through the grace of God, my family has managed to pull itself back together and rallied around getting our troublesome member help. Help that she has repeatedly refused and failed, through her own actions, to act upon.

Point 2 – DESTRUCTION OF THE MIND – FAR REACHING CONSEQUENCES

Nick points out that alcohol destroys more brain cells than pot. Lets say (just picking numbers) pot destroys 30 brain cells and alcohol destroys 40. Wow, that is a huge improvement! Not really. Nick also says that short term memory brain cells rejuvenate. Well if those are the cells that are destroyed, whoopee for him. What if the pot destroys other brain cells? He doesn’t address that. Also, Nick doesn’t address hard street drugs – crack, heroin, crystal meth, etc. He just focuses on that crazy libertarian love, pot. Drug use changes the physiological composition of the mind. As the addict grows more and more enslaved to his/her drug of choice, they change. They lose the power of logic, reason, and morality. Rational thinking goes out the window, choosing to do the right thing over the wrong thing, and not destroying your family are all thrown aside in pursuit of the next high. Things to think about.

Point 3 – MY MISTAKE

I will give Nick credit. He states that HIV and AIDS are not communicable through saliva and mucus and he is correct in that regard. He even goes so far to say that you wouldn’t get AIDS if you drank a bucket of infected saliva. Would he like to try that theory himself? I think probably not. When I wrote what I did I was incorrect. However, I will say that HIV, AIDS, and other deadly diseases are contracted through blood born pathogens. Nick says that HIV and AIDS no longer kill people in this country, but I would ask him this: Are the people who have AIDS and HIV happy people? Do they live their life to its fullest, or are the constantly held back by their disease? In terms of the needle exchange program, all those syringes are medical waste. Each syringe holds the possibility of infecting someone else with any disease born via blood pathogens. Where does all that medical waste goes and what about the people who have to dispose of it? What rights do these crack heads have to place the lives of other people at risk just so they can get high? Absolutely none whatsoever.

Point 4 – CLOSING THOUGHTS

Nick and I will probably remain on the opposite sides of this debate. This is merely my opinion and response to his opinion. I will not STFU has he suggested. I have to write what I believe to be true and so does he. I merely suggest that we leave this debate where it is now, as he and I don’t have the time to engage in a pointless war of words.

Mike Grant – Samnite Gladiator