English FAQ’s

  

2010 most frequently asked question/comment.  

If we legalized all drugs, the gangs and cartels would not go away.   They would move into other things like kidnapping, selling guns, human smuggling.   Nothing would get better. 

A. So, you suggest we keep drug prohibition as a jobs program for criminals and murderers.   Great idea! 

B.  90% of all drug dealers are part-time.   As we saw at the end of alcohol prohibition, the vast majority went back to legitimate jobs.   Those who robbed banks and such were captured or killed.

1. If you legalize/regulate won’t millions of people start using the illegal drugs, causing more social chaos?
   1. No, but there is no research. Not in the USA, not in any country.
      However, COPs has spoken to 8 doctors all board certified in addiction
      psychiatry. All agree that there will a very few who will experiment with
      hard drugs. Some may switch from wine and whiskey to marijuana to relax.
      However, that will lead to very little drug abuse. Any slight increase in
      new use will be offset by fewer trying illegal drugs, when the glamour,
      rebellion and excitement of breaking the law is gone.
   2. Use common sense. Who is going to wake up and decide to take heroin, meth, etc? The best medical info is that there are extremely few people who want to try heroin and the same person is so sensible and smart to wait for it to be legal. It is almost impossible to have such a personality.
   3. In 1914 when you could buy marijuana, heroin & cocaine from the pharmacy, about 1-2 % of Americans were using hard drugs. Nearly 100 years later it is still about 1-2 %
   4. 2008 Zogby polled showed less than one percent would try hard drugs if they were obtainable at a state-regulated store.
2. Won’t there always be drug dealers, a black market?
   1. NO. Our experience with alcohol prohibition = 99% of smuglers & moonshine stills were out of business in 1934. When the illegal drugs are sold at a state-regulated store, the price for them should be set at a price that the black market can not match.
3. What is the experience in countries that have legalized drugs?
   1. Alaska has had legal marijuana possession for adults (up to 2 ounces) since 1991. No reports have said Alaska has suffered as a result
   2. 14 states in the USA – These states have legalized medicinal use of marijuana. (at the state level) The fear was that it would send the wrong message. Use never spiked. After 14 years in California, pot use by teens is down slightly. The sky did not fall in.
   3. Holland – After 33 years of near legal marijuana sales their youth 15-29 smoke about half as much American youth. Analysis is that legalization made pot boring.
   4. Switzerland…Swiss Heroin Maintenance Program since 1995…60% reduction in felony crime, 70% reduction in new cases of HIV, hepatitis B and no one has died of an overdose. This program is so successful that Germany adopted it nationwide in 2009. In 2006 the Swiss health ministry reported that new users of heroin have been reduced. COP’s Howard Wooldridge has been to a clinic in Switzerland in 2001 & 2008. Speaking French and German, Howard spoke to police officers who love the program because of the reduction in crime.PS. YES. The Needle Park idea was a failure and it was abandoned in 1994 after 3 years.
4. Will COP’s ideas stop our children from getting these drugs?
   1. No.  Buying the drugs will become as difficult as buying alcohol.  Also, when law enforcement is allowed to focus only on underage sales and possession, we will be more effective. Teens will still be able to access these drugs via older siblings, etc. like they currently do with cigarettes and beer. HOWEVER, teens will not come personally in contact with a drug dealer who may offer a free sample of heroin, etc. Remember, there is no solution to drugs only approaches.
5. How would the drugs be sold or distributed?
   1. As a starting point for discussion, we could give currently illegal drugs the same regulations & restrictions as alcohol, minus advertising. We would sell marijuana at a good profit and the others at cost + sales tax. The destruction of the black market would be the number one objective in a post-prohibition world.
6. Won’t legalized marijuana result in more stoned drivers on the road?
   1. Doubtful. The majority of drivers do not drive under the influence of alcohol or any drug. It will always be illegal to drive intoxicated on any drug. However, legalizing/regulating would not all of a sudden make marijuana users irresponsible, same as most drinkers don’t drive drunk. The number of people killed currently by drivers under the influence of marijuana is so small, the federal government does not even keep stats on it. Indeed, if and when people switch to marijuana from alcohol and drive, the number of accidents would go down.
7. Will there be less crime or more?
   1. Much less. Inside a treatment program the Swiss reduced the felony crime rate by 60% by having state clinics distribute heroin. Even better, the police could once again focus on the drunk driver, the child molester; not Willie Nelson, not Michael Phelps, not Rush Limbaugh. A solid 70% of felony crime is caused by the prohibition of drugs, not their use. America will be a much safer place when drug prohibition is in the history books.
8. Is it not immoral to take mind-altering drugs?
   1. COPs  is not qualified to speak on matters of morality. We suggest you contact your religious advisor and ask him/her what drugs and food are moral for you to take. Since most of this audience is Christian, I will give you Proverbs 31:6 “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.” Thus God condones the use of mind-altering, addictive drugs in certain situations. COPs urges all of you to be as drug-free as possible. However, the Christian religion condones and encourages the use of intoxicating beverages.
9. What would you propose in the short term/do now?
   1. I would propose that all 911 calls for an alcohol or drug overdose be ARREST FREE. Use a combination of the Baby Moses law and the Good Samaritan Act. Inside of drug prohibition we could thousands of lives each year. COPs would repeal marijuana prohibition immediately & work towards all the rest as soon as ‘the dust settles.’
10. Won’t legalize/regulate send the wrong message that the drugs are now safe and okay to use?
    1. NO. Legalize/regulate will normalize our approach to all drugs. Today’s message is confusing. Keep in mind that the two deadliest drugs in America, tobacco and alcohol become legal at 18 and 21. No parent tells their children to begin using them, when they come of age & it is legal for them to do so. The glamour & rebellion factors of a drug being a forbidden fruit will be eliminated with the repeal of prohibition.
11. How would legalizing heroin and the other drugs make it a safer world for my 16 year old teenager?
    1. Legalize/regulate would eliminate all the street dealers who always are ready to sell your teen any drug no ID needed. Today, they even give away free samples of heroin. It would actually be harder for your teen to buy these drugs. For 30 years even Washington admits that it easier for kids to buy pot than beer.
    2. No child will have the job option to sell drugs. Today the government states that about 900,000 teens are employed as drug dealers, causing several to be shot every day.
    3. The police will be able to focus on public safety crimes like DUI and those who hurt little boys and girls.