29 September 2010

Decriminalizing Drugs ~ Healthcare Not Jailtime...

Interesting to read Harvard's Jeffrey Miron piece that Drugs and conservatives should go together in the LATimes OpEd section...
"Legalization would not only promote specific policy objectives that are near and dear to conservative hearts, it is also consistent with core principles that conservatives endorse in other contexts."
Key bullet points:
  • Legalization would be beneficial in key aspects of the war on terror.
  • Legalization could also aid the war on terror by freeing immigration and other border control resources to target terrorists and WMD rather than the illegal drug trade.
  • Legalizing drugs would support conservative opposition to gun control.
  • Legalization could ease conservative concerns over illegal immigration.
  • Prohibition is fiscally irresponsible.
  • Drug prohibition is hard to reconcile with constitutionally limited government.
  • Drug prohibition is hopelessly inconsistent with allegiance to free markets...
  • Legalization would take drug control out government's incompetent hands and place it with churches, medical professionals, coaches, friends and families.
  • By supporting the legalization of drugs, conservatives might even help themselves at the ballot box.
Interesting.

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