War On Drugs Isn't Working.

The War On Drugs Isn’t Working!

Many politicians have been waging ‘war’ on drugs for years, making policies that don’t work, and doing little to help those who are addicts.  

We all know how the drug chain works.  Drugs are grown in Third World countries, often with aid money from the West, they are then sold on by drug cartels, who ship the consignments to drug dealers who sell them on our streets.  Drug addicts however, contribute greatly to the crime rate in our country causing untold misery and mayhem.  The solution, I believe is quite simple.  Give the addicts their fix.

Put into context the costs are as follows;

Cost of a fix for an addict at present. 

1) Police time and staff, documenting the robbery, catching or attempting to catch the offender.

2) Forensic scientist, who search for evidence that will help convict the offender.

3) Glazier, if a window has been broken.

4) Locksmith, if a lock has been damaged.

5) Counselling, if the robbery has been a traumatic or violent experience.

6) Insurance, whilst an insurance company might pay over and above the premium paid on the policy, they are a business and as such make a profit from all their clients who don’t get robbed.

7) Businesses who sell goods to replace the stolen items, also make money on this deal.

8) Lawyers who prosecute the offender.  (they seem to make the most money from this deal)

9) Judges and jury, who judge the offender and court room staff who make this possible.

10) Prisons and their staff, who might eventually keep the offender.

11) Drying out clinics, that will only work if the addict wants to dry out.

12) Politicians who waste valuable tax payer’s money, talking about and passing ineffective laws, which fail the law abiding citizen and the drug addict.

13) Money is also made from the sale of stolen goods on the Black Market.

14) The chain of drug dealers make huge amounts of money, along with the transporters and human carriers.

15) Customs officials at ports, who try to stop drugs destined for the streets entering the country.  Many companies are involved in designing methods and machines to beat the dealers’ ever more ingenious ways of getting drugs through customs.  

Add to all this the fact that all these professional people cannot work without all their support staff, who have to be paid.  (ie. office workers, cleaners etc.)  Added to that is the tax paid on wages and goods needed to carry out these jobs and services.  

The cost of the addicts fix could be much less if laws were changed to help those who needed it.  If drugs (not substitutes) were given by a doctor on the NHS and the cost to the tax payer would greatly reduced as the addict would have no need to offend in order to cover the costs of the street drugs.

Alternative cost of an addict’s fix.

1) 10mgs of dia-morphine would cost the NHS £6 to £7.  100mgs of dia-morphine £26 from a family doctor, yet to give these drugs to an addict is seen as unethical! (unethical for whom?)

2) Doctor (and his staff) to prescribe the drug.

3) Chemist and their staff to dispense the drug.

4) Education of the dangers of the misuse of drugs. 

5) Drying out clinics and their staff to help those addicts who are ready to stop taking drugs.

Addicts need help, not punishment.  No one lives their life with the intention of becoming a junkie.  Most addicts hate themselves and what they do, but until they are ready to give up and change their life, they are trapped in a cycle of crime and hostility, which doesn’t help anyone, only those who stand to make money out of it.  An addict’s prime objective is not making money, or committing a robbery, but getting their next fix.  Addicts are the bottom line of a chain of events that is created and supported by the system and as such they take the brunt of all the hatred.  

Opponents of this idea will argue that drugs for addicts should not be made easily available at the tax payer’s expense and that those who are not addicts, could easily become addicts.  Illegal drugs are already easily available on our streets, and the expense to the tax payer is far greater than it ever need be.  If addicts were able to obtain their drugs from a doctor, the dealers would simply be put out of business and crime figures would plummet. 

Why then are the drug laws not changed?  I believe that they are not changed, simply because if they were, too many important people and businesses would stand to lose too much money.  It has nothing to do with ethics, or the illegality of it all, but purely to do with money.  

Evil will flourish, when good people turn the other way.

Cindy Thompson