After roughly 100 years of drug prohibition in Canada (Opium Act of 1908) we have not seen any appreciable change in the number of people who become addicted to drugs. And presumably that’s the whole reason for the drug war - end up with less drug addicts!

That means we’ve made no real progress after all those years of trying to “arrest-away” our drug problem. We in effect created the following black market crimes while seeing no results:

* Street level drug dealing by violent gangs (Triads, Mafia, Hells Angels, Native Gangs)
* Dangerous underground drug manufacturing in our neighborhoods (meth labs and grow ops)
* Massively large, highly profitable, and extremely violent international drug cartels (La Familia Michoachana, Gulf Cartel/Los Zetas, Sinaloa)
* Enrichment of our enemies (Taliban, Al-Qaeda) by establishing a black market for them to sell their narcotics
* Foreign policies towards drug producing countries cause huge rifts in foreign relations and creates international animosity.
* American government spending on drug law enforcement and related judicial process/imprisonment is costing tax payers 30 billion dollars a year (the US spent that much every year throughout the 90’s)
* When adjusting for inflation drug prices have dropped during prohibition
* Drug purity has increased during prohibition
* Children are now distributors of drugs
* Children are now a larger consumer of drugs
* Societal distrust in law enforcement has grown
* Law enforcement and political office has been corrupted by greed and influence
* Good intentioned laws enacted to tackle drug crime have ended up eroding everyone’s civil liberties without any appreciable effect on crime or addiction rates.
* Police and first responders being put in harms way day after day enforcing drug laws and tending to the victims in the streets.

I could go on and on if I wanted to. The impact of our failed drug policies are far reaching and impact each and every citizen. People try and put their heads in the sand and pretend that the issue of drug prohibition isn’t an issue that matters to them because they aren’t impacted. “I don’t smoke dope and I have bigger issues.” Well, if they actually took a moment to look at the issue they’d see that THEY ARE impacted. They end up with higher taxes, unsafe neighborhoods, children at higher risk of coming into contact with drugs, etc. etc.

When governments outlawed casinos they created a black market for gambling that had all the same issues we have with drug prohibition. Today the government runs legal casinos and by doing so have eliminated the prohibition caused harms. If you take a look into prostitution you’ll also see the same signs of prohibition caused harm. Harms that would not exist if we lifted the sex industry out of the black market.

So what have I concluded? I’ve concluded that in a free society like the US or Canada there is no way to enact prohibitionist policies and not cause more harm than simply allowing the activity to take place in a responsible manner by adults.

And on that note, I’m going to go find me a spliff and walk across the street to check out the “ladies of the evening". Thanks to prohibition it’s easy to find both at a reasonable price right outside my door.