Drugs, Violence, and the National Debt

What are now illicit drugs could easily be used to reduce and eventually eliminate the National Debt.  Let me state up front, regardless of how some may interpret this statement I am NOT in any way condoning the use of illicit drugs.  I am, however, saying that if we are going to have drug users in this country, we unfortunately have more than our fair share, we should use these same drugs to somehow benefit society at large in as many ways as possible.

In an effort toward total disclosure I would like to reveal that I smoke like a chimney.  Smoking may be legal but I do NOT recommend or condone smoking cigarettes for anyone of any age.  I know, from personal experience, how hard it is to quit smoking.  I wouldn’t wish the efforts and guilt of trying to quit, numerous times, on my worst enemy.  If you don’t currently smoke DON’T EVER start.  If you do currently smoke cigarettes please try, try, and did I mention try to quit.

It seems even Attorney General Eric Holder recognizes that what we are presently doing with drug offenders isn’t working very well.  “Attorney general calls for change to sentences for drug-related offenses”  In his remarks “Holder
said he is mandating a change to Justice Department policy so that low-level,
non-violent drug offenders with no ties to large-scale organizations, gangs or
cartels won’t be charged with offenses that impose mandatory minimum sentences.  Holder went on to say, “Federal prisons are
operating at nearly 40 percent above capacity and hold more than 219,000
inmates — with almost half of them serving time for drug-related crimes and
many of them with substance use disorders.”  At the very least, this might leave prison space to keep individuals off the street that could be an even greater danger to society at large.  “Sex offenders routinely released from California jails, records show”

My knowledge of illicit drugs is limited since I’ve been lucky enough to never have tried them, except for weed a couple of times.  Drugs like heroin, cocaine, crack, and ecstasy, come to mind as being some of the major drugs reported most in the news.  The manufacture and distribution of these drugs, and no doubt more like them, have been the cause of seemingly endless violence and thousands of deaths.  The ruination of thousands of lives and long prison sentences are obviously not combating the problem.  Meanwhile, the US and our criminal justice system continues to do the same things while hoping for different results.  Since that obviously isn’t obtaining the results we want as a people, why not try something else that might help these people and society at large?

Congress or even a Presidential Executive Order could legalize every illicit drug known to man.  If more illicit drugs are developed those could be legalized as well.  This could be done through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with the eventual help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and even the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Once the FDA has legalized every illicit drug, taxation and tax enforcement could be put in place on everything.  The tax rates, for example, the percentage of taxes could be five to fifteen times what is currently attached to cigarettes and alcohol.  Rules should be put in place from the very beginning as to what the money from these taxes should be used for.  Enforcement of those rules would, of course, fall on the shoulders of the FBI, CIA and IRS.

Congress or Executive Order could mandate that some of the tax money would have to go to the treatment of drug users who truly want to quit.  We already have clinics and doctors who specialize in the treatment of alcohol and drug users.  So why not tap into this resource in developing more clinics and hospitals to do this work?  Needless to say, some of the tax money would have to be reserved for hiring personnel in the FDA as well as more IRS and FBI agents.  There’s a saying that goes something like, “If you want to beat a criminal you have to think like a criminal.”  So why not hire some of the drug manufacturers and distributors that want out of the business, to help catch the others?  Much like the government used to do, and still does, in hiring computer hackers to counteract and catch other computer hackers.  Last, but not least, another percentage of the money could go toward paying down and eventually wiping out The National Debt.  This, of course, would benefit everyone in society now and in later generations.

Now is where the CIA, FBI and IRS takes over the majority of operations.  As we all know, these three agencies can be extremely determined and absolutely ruthless when they are going after someone they are trying to catch.  We shouldn’t make the mistake of hunting drug dealers down on grounds of having broken the law.  As a society, we already do that and we know how successful that has been so far.  Instead, after all drugs are legalized and taxed, we should turn our law enforcement agencies loose on grounds of avoiding taxes.  Anyone that has ever been the subject of an IRS audit, or IRS confiscation of property for unpaid taxes, can attest to the unbelievable ruthlessness of the IRS.  Why not put the IRS to work doing what they do best for the good of everyone in society?

I’m by no means claiming the actual implementation of legalizing and taxing illegal drugs would be as easy as I have probably made it sound here.  I am, however, saying that legalizing what is currently illicit drugs would in the end benefit everyone in this country and around the world.  Just think of all the crime that could be eradicated and the money that could be made with the legalization and taxation of all drugs.