It's the Pot, Stupid

With the Swine Flu abating (props to Mexico for nipping it pretty much in the bud), we can return our attention to the real pandemic raging along our southern border. One pillar of the drug cartels' power is guns, and how easy it is to get them from U.S. stores and shows. The other pillar is pot, and the destructive way our society treats drug use and addiction.

The comparison is perfect. When alcohol was illegal in the United States, organized crime flourished. Al Capone made millions. Cops, judges and politicians took bribes to look the other way, and those who couldn't be corrupted were threatened. When prohibition was repealed, that all went away, and the profits that had been subverting law and order instead began supporting it.

Only a few years after alcohol became legal again, marijuana became illegal, and this second prohibition has led to the same social madness as the first. The drug cartels' main business may be cocaine, but they support that business with marijuana sales to the United States -- 62 percent of all their profits.

Pot doesn't kill, it doesn't maim, it can't even be proven to cause any long-term health problems. Pot doesn't do nearly the societal and familial damage its legal substance-in-crime, alcohol, does -- stoners don't beat their wives and kids or hold up liquor stores. So if the only reason marijuana remains illegal is because it has been for as long as we can remember -- and, on a more elementary level, because it originates from brown lands instead of Anglo lands like beer -- why is it still illegal? Why can't we even have a debate about it?

In arguing for the legalization of pot, there's the economic aspect. One-third of all Americans -- 100 million people -- admit to having used it, making marijuana one hell of a cash crop. Tax, sell and regulate it like alcohol, and billions of dollars that were once going to drug cartels are now paying for roads, schools and bridges (not to mention all the jobs that a legal industry would create).

There's the moral aspect. The United States imprisons a lot of people, and most are non-violent drug offenders, and almost half of those are marijuana related. Why? For what? Kingpins and dealers are one thing, but how does locking up users and addicts make our streets safer? Those who don't go to jail still go through the judicial process, keeping police forces, lawyers and judges from preventing real crimes. And if pot were legal, less people would ultimately use it.

The problem is demand, not supply, and so is the solution. It's stupidly simple: pot should be like alcohol. Users of harder drugs should go to rehab, not prison. Governments would have a new revenue source, drug cartels would go out of business and another 7,000 Mexicans wouldn't get gunned down. All in all, the world might get just a little bit better.