Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Unintended Consequences

Graph demonstrating increases in United States...Image via Wikipedia
Another sad story.  An infant was shot and killed, this time in Silicon Valley.

Its unfortunate that those who report these sad stories seldom identify our drug policies as the root cause of a lot of the violence we see.

When alcohol was illegal during Prohibition, there was a great deal of violence associated with distribution of alcohol.  And it evaporated when prohibition was repealed.

If we simply allowed each neighborhood to decide for itself what drug use was allowed, drug sales would become a peaceful activity governed by the same laws as other industries.  And it would take place in limited areas, away from where people raise their kids.

And I think that's what people really want.  They don't need to control everybody's lives.  That's not possible under any system.  But it is possible to limit where it happens and greatly reduce the violence associated with it.