94 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
94 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
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Deregulating Drug Use
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an anarchist perspective
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The debate about drug use in this country is usually framed in
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terms of continued criminalization vs legalization. the positions
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in this debate mean continued harassment, including arrests,
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imprisonment, theft of property, and possibly in the near future,
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execution of drug dealers and users, vs legal regulation of drug use
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and sales, similar to that of alcohol and cigarettes, including heavy
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taxation, and restraints on where, when and to whom drugs can be sold.
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Both of these positions are based on the same assumption, government
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has the right to tell individuals what they can and cannot do. While
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legalization would surely be preferable to continued criminalization,
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there is a third alternative: decriminalization and deregulation.
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Decriminalization and deregulation of drugs would mean no laws against
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drugs, no government regulation of drugs sales and use, no arrests, no
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prisons, no taxes. Eliminating drug laws, instead of simply replacing
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them with different laws, would produce a free market in drugs where
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people would be free to sell, ingest, or inject whatever they wished,
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without government interference.
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Drug use is a voluntary, non-violent activity, and should be an
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individual decision, the business of no one but the user. Government
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has taken it upon itself to regulate drug use, just as it regulates
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alcohol use, restricts abortion, and registers and drafts people. in
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order to better control people. Criminalization of drugs has produced,
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just as prohibition of alcohol did, an enormous amount of violent
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crime. Most of this crime is motivated by the need to obtain money to
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pay the artificially inflated price of illegal drugs.
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This drug-associated crime is then used as an excuse for police to
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indiscriminately harass young black men, stopping and searching, and
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frequently arresting them on the street, for no reason other than that
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they live in a "high crime" area. Doing away with drug laws would
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dramatically lower the cost of drugs and thereby eliminate most street
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crime, as well as remove the excuse police use to terrorize black
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people.
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Decriminalization and deregulation and the resultant competitive
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market in drugs would produce purer and safer drugs, eliminating much
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of the death and illness associated with drug use, most of which is
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caused by contamination of drugs or needles, and unreliable drug
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strength, not by the nature of the drug itself. Heroin is no more
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dangerous than aspirin if it is carefully prepared without dangerous
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additives and injected with a sterile needles. And aspirin overdose
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can kill as easily as heroin overdose, it just takes longer and feels
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worse. Decriminalizing needle use would virtually eliminate the
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transmission of AIDS among IV drug users, as has been the experience
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in the 38 American states which do not restrict sale of sterile
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needles. Needle exchange programs are not enough; there need to be
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more needles available to eliminate needle sharing.
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Besides abolishing laws against recreational drugs, eliminating
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government regulation of "therapeutic" drugs would also benefit
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people. The FDA prevents many drugs from reaching the market,
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including treatments for AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses. And
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those that do eventually become available are delayed for years by FDA
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rules, while thousands die. The government is currently responsible
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for restrictions on aerosolized pentamidine, a drug which prevents
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Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. the most frequent cause of death in
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people who have AIDS. Just as drug laws lead to deaths associated with
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street drugs and keep people from obtaining sterile needles to prevent
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transmission of AIDS, drug laws are killing people with AIDS by
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denying them effective treatment. Drug laws in this country are also
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preventing marketing of newly developed abortifacients, drugs which
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induce abortion early in pregnancy, freeing women from their current
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reliance on the medical establishment for abortion services. these
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drugs would put the decision about abortion where it belongs: with the
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individual.
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Eliminating drug laws would greatly increase people's options in
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the areas of pleasure and health. It would also reduce crime, reduce
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death and illness associated with illegal drug use, and reduce deaths
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from AIDS and other serious illnesses. Individuals should be free to
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make their own decisions about drug use, and all other aspects of
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their lives, without the interference of government or "the community".
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NO COPYRIGHT
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Please send two copies of any review or reprint
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of all or part of this to:
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Boston Anarchist Drinking Brigade
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(BAD Brigade)
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PO Box 1323
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Cambridge, MA 02238
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Internet: bbrigade@world.std.com
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November, 1988
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Abolish all Prisons !
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