Hypocrisy in American Drug Laws

by Nick Harper

When America’s founding fathers wrote the Constitution, was it their intention to extend authority to individuals’ homes and bodies? I do not believe so. In fact, this is exactly the type of oppression that they came to this land to escape from. How can we truly call ourselves a free society when the government attempts to regulate private behaviors and “Big Brother” is always watching? People often refer to the United States as “the land of the free,” but there are many other countries where personal freedoms are more protected.

One such freedom that the American government attempts to regulate is the use of recreational drugs. While doing drugs is not something that I would consider to be a smart decision, I believe that people should be able to make decisions for themselves of what to put into their bodies, and that what people do in the privacy of their own home is no one’s business, as long as no one else is being harmed. My biggest concern with current drug laws has much less to do with drugs than it has to do with personal freedom.

The use and cultivation of marijuana should not be illegal. Once considered to be an underground drug used primarily by black jazz musicians, marijuana has now evolved into a mainstream drug, with the baby boomer generation having come of age smoking it. It is a naturally growing plant on our earth, rather than a more dangerous chemical creation. No one in the history of the world has ever died from an overdose of marijuana. You cannot physically smoke enough of it to kill you, which is amazing when you consider that you can drink enough water to kill yourself. Does this suggest that water is more toxic to the body than marijuana? Marijuana is prescribed for the sick in some situations, yet the use of it by the well is a criminal activity, although it is a victimless crime.

American drug laws are hypocritical. Our government allows and even financially supports the tobacco and alcohol industries, which have proven negative health impacts, and cost billions of dollars to the economy each year, in terms of health alone. This gives legal sanction to activities that are much more harmful than the smoking of marijuana. If the use of alcohol and tobacco are legal, then certainly marijuana should be as well.

Many of the current drug laws in America are based upon reactions from misleading and false information about drugs perpetuated during the first half of the twentieth century. The first law about marijuana came about as a result of an active media campaign against it spearheaded by Rupert Murdock. It demonized the drug through scare tactics designed to make it seem very evil and dangerous. “Reefer Madness” was a propaganda film made in 1936 that showed a group of high school students experiencing every dire thing possible as a result of trying marijuana. Since that time, the government has attempted to exert increasing control over the use of drugs.

The government’s “war on drugs” has been a complete failure and cost the American taxpayers a great deal of money. Despite all the laws passed, drug use continues to rise. The government is not going to be able to stop people from using drugs. This war is unwinnable. Two-thirds of all prisoners are incarcerated for drug-related offenses, causing them to be overcrowded. This is a tremendous drain on our economy. It gives people criminal records for not having done anything that many people consider to be truly criminal. There are far more serious things that law enforcement officials should be focusing their efforts on than busting the casual marijuana user or dealer.

The real social issue with government control of drug use is the loss of personal freedom. Since it is foolish to believe that Americans can be stopped from using drugs, a new approach toward this problem is needed. The government should rethink current drug laws and stop prosecuting people for minor offenses. The money saved could be used to educate citizens about drugs with truthful, scientific evidence, so that people can make their own informed and intelligent decisions for themselves.