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One striking example of the destructive effect upon society of
entrenched banker-government interaction is the world crisis in "pleasure" drugs. It is normal in any society for a small
percentage of the population to use drugs of addiction. Originally the numbers were small, but un-Libertarian elements, wanting
to impose their values on others, lobbied government to make these drugs illegal. This interfered with supply, but demand
remained the same. Increased risk in supplying the drugs made prices rise drastically.
This created a huge profit incentive for black marketeers. They
began to recruit new users, especially of addictive drugs. Because of the increased price, most of the existing users could
no longer work at normal jobs to supply their own habits. They in turn, began to recruit new users. As the competition and
risk of selling drugs increased, the users began to sell to children, then turned to burglary, robbery, and mugging. At this
writing, eighty five percent of violent crime is drug related. This is what collectivists call the "War on Drugs."
Government
interference in the normal laws of supply and demand is the one and only thing that caused the escalation of drug use as it
now exists. To perceive all this as simply one consequence of a "War on Liberty" would be more accurate. The financiers love
all this because they lend the money to government for the massive enforcement expenditures, phony "rehabilitation" programs,
and the bulging prison systems. That's why they lobby government against the legalization of these drugs. "It's the politics
of contraband....."
Of course, all this seems to give government an excuse to deprive the populace
of an ever increasing number of other Liberties, such as reporting requirements in the private transfer of funds.
What difference could it make that this is never done in a truly free society? After all, anyone transferring money "might"
be a drug dealer. And of course, how could any good citizen demure at giving his employer an occasional squirt of urine for
analysis?
In fact, no good Liberty loving person would ever require
drug testing of employees. Pay should be increased or decreased based upon job performance. The personal life of employees
should remain their own. Besides this, the tests are not accurate. Poppy seed rolls and several common prescription medicines
will give a positive reading on drug tests. Those who are denied employment because of false readings are urged to sue
the employers. Take these no-good swine to the highest courts in the land and let the pubic see their cowardice(1).
It
took three generations of un-Libertarian policy to produce the current epidemic in drug use and ironically, legalization would
produce a dramatic short term increase in use. This however, would be followed by three generations of slow decline until
a normal level of use is once again reached. The longer we put off doing what works, the longer it will take to work when
we finally do it.
The slave mentality will glibly parrot the collectivist slogan
that legalization is "giving in to the problem." It is not giving in to anything. It is the one and only solution to the problem
and can be likened to simply putting the problem into reverse gear and slowly backing up out of an expressway tunnel which
leads only and irrevocably to more of the same.
How many more decades will the opponents of legalization keep
making the same mistakes while always expecting a different result? Prohibition itself is the one and only problem. Dealers
should be seen merely as ruthless businessmen, because usually that's all they are. They kill each other because the profit
incentive is increasingly great and because they cannot arbitrate disputes between themselves in the courts like everyone
else. Try making lawsuits in all other areas of business illegal and watch the murder rate go sky high.
The three
generation time frame could only be shortened by drug education in the schools and the adoption of Libertarian policy in all
other areas. As life and hope for the future improves people won't want to escape with drugs. Even with the triumph of Liberty
however, there will always be at least a small percentage of people who seek to destroy themselves in one way or another,
with or without drugs. This is normal even in a free society and is a manifestation of natural selection in the arena of human
affairs.
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