My view of drug problem
If we want to face the drugs problem, I think is right to
look at the use of drugs in human history. Wine, for the Romans, was the
most widely-used drug; in south America the local population has, since
time immemorial, used the coca leaves to relieve fatigue; in primitive
tribes the sacerdotes hid their "magic grasses" as part of their divine
needs, and when heroin was extracted from opium, those who had the opportunity,
used it without regarding it as a moral issue.
Once the damaging effects on the body were
demonstrated these substances were banned in almost all countries. Remember,
also, that during the '30 alcohol was banned in the United States. Basically,
during human history we been through an unregulated period, which allowed
an unlimited use of these substances, to a too restrictive time that has
tried to eliminate them from the human mind. These restrictions have then
become a fertile land for outlaw organisations, so that during the years
of Prohibition, in the USA, a bottle of low quality whiskey, often more
toxic than a good one, was normally sold at a very high price.
This extra money paid for the whiskey, which
had now became a very precious substance, went to the outlaws who were
interested in creating as many alcohol addicts as possible. When the USA
decide to repeal Prohibition, the prediction of many moralists, who saw
a world full of alcoholics, didn't came true. The price went down and most
of the population started to use alcohol with a clear conscience; it is
true that there are a lot of alcoholics now, but there were more when there
were people who had an interest in having them. But is also true that the
poor alcoholics, who were forced to become thieves or prostitutes for a
bottle of whiskey, are now only hurting themselves.
Comparing what happened in the United States
during and after Prohibition, we can see that now we have the same situation,
in almost the entire world, for the soft drugs like cannabis and its derivatives.
The outlaw society is making a lot of money from the import and commerce
of these substances, and there are many people who, to get easy money,
get into the outlaw circuit, trading these substances.
If cannabis was freely sold, this money
would become income, in the form of taxes, for the government. At this
point, normally, all moralists say "you should not make the state a distributor
of death". But it is also true that today the government gains money from
cigarettes and alcohol, and even if I think this may be wrong, I would
always prefer the state to get this money instead of the outlaws; because
at least the government forces the makers of tobacco products to write
that smoking kills on the packs, run anti-smoking campaigns, and teach
children in the schools that smoking is really harmful.
Today there are millions of consumers of
cannabis and its derivatives, and the state simply ignores them, and does
nothing to prevent people selling drugs in front of schools, whilst at
the same time a tobacconist can have trouble if he sells tobacco to a child.
The behaviour of prohibitionists is like the ostrich, hiding its head under
the sand and saying: "We cannot offer our youngsters a society in which
drugs are licit", but at the same time the outlaws have incentives to recruit
new drug addicts. It is also true that in Italy, thanks to people who said:
"we cannot legitimise prostitution because we are a civilised country",
we now have, at night, streets filled with prostitutes, who do not even
care for the most basic rules of hygiene.
Is very easy for a politician to say that
drugs are bad - we all agree, and the politician gets more votes. We must,
instead, have the courage to admit that the prohibitionist position has
failed, and that is not possible, simply with a law, to prevent people
getting drugs. It would be wonderful if a law was enough to prevent thieves
or assassins but this is not the reality.
The basic difference between an assassin
and a drug addict is this: the assassin is hurting other people, the drug
addict, only himself. Because of this I think is right to jail a killer
or a thief but I think is stupid to condemn someone who sells marijuana,
because the drug seller is selling to people who want to buy, and you cannot
eliminate the sellers to prevent the trade, because while there is demand
for a product, you will find someone ready to sell, and the more dangerous
it is to provide the product, the higher the price.
The Government should assume a brave position
on this problem; it is not enough to say "it is wrong", it must treat the
population as thinking beings and teach them the consequences of a certain
behaviour and then let each individual decide - after all, this does not
damage other individuals.
Fabrizio Bitti
Special thanks to Steven Thomas for the correct translation.