Solutions to the drug war often fall into two rough categories. On the one side, we’re told we should pull out all the stops and go ballistic, launch an all-out offensive and let nothing (not even the Constitution) stand in our way to victory.
The other side is the legalization crowd – the members of which oftentimes are not for any sort of legalization I’d want. Correctly citing the black-market forces created by drug prohibition and the negative effects that follow in its wake (social breakdown, crime, etc.), they say resolutely we should “legalize drugs.” The only trouble is that they tack on enough restrictions to render the reforms moot.
I received an interesting e-mail last night that illustrates this perfectly.
Someone named Frank Tymon, who is apparently the author of a number of books, including “Raise Your Child for Success,” mass-mailed a missive saying, “THE DRUG WAR WAS LOST ABORNING AND IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE OF STRATEGY.”
Agreed.
Tymon goes on to say, “Drugs sales are extremely profitable, and once you have a client that client is hooked for life. Add to that you cannot be made to pay income taxes, since doing so would constitute self incrimination.”
Luckily, Tymon has an answer to the problem – unfortunately it’s the same stupid canard that too many so-called legalizers parrot as a workable solution: legalize and tax.
Says Tymon in all-caps, “LEGALIZE DRUG SALES. AND TAX IT OUT OF EXISTENCE.”
Tymon, you’ll notice, slept soundly through his econ classes. You can’t tax things out of existence. Tax payments are done in the legitimate marketplace. If the taxes become prohibitive, buyers and sellers simply move to illegitimate markets, as happens right now. Black markets only serve as alternative markets, enabling people to get what they want at the prices they want, as the Brits are learning now with cigarette taxes and tobacco smugglers.
Tymon’s wonderful solution won’t fix a dang thing because taxing drugs out of existence is as much a pipedream as jailing junkies out of existence.
But Tymon has more in store: He says we should “REQUIRE LICENSING OF PURVEYORS OF DRUGS. ISSUE LICENSES ONLY TO PEOPLE WITH CLEAN RECORDS. AND PRICE THE LICENSES BEYOND THEIR MEANS.”
Same prob, Tymon. Too many legal barriers in the market just opens the door for illegal markets, and then we’re back to square 1, no solution, no fix, things just as messed up as they are now.
Because criminals currently run the drug trades, Tymon figures “There is no question that they would evade paying taxes, buying licenses.” He’s happy about this because slipping the law “would give law enforcement additional charges to bring against the elements who have stolen the lives of the addicts.”
And how well has this worked to date? We have plenty of charges for law enforcement to use against dealers. They don’t work. The only thing new laws will accomplish is give lawyers something else to bicker about in court.
And as for evading taxes, as Tymon is convinced newly legalized drug purveyors would do, how about Merck or Pfizer? If the taxes are no more prohibitive than current pharmaceutical companies are paying, why worry about them skipping their bills? Legitimate businesses like to stay legitimate, which means complying with the law. As long as the law is not overly intrusive they’re going to play ball.
When legalizers start ranting and raving, as Tymon, that “THE POWER TO TAX IS THE POWER TO DESTROY,” so “LET US USE IT TO DESTROY THE DRUG LORDS!” we are up against the same sort of ignorance and short-sightedness that landed us where we are with our current policies.
Psychoactive substances are a fact of life. Always have been, always will be. Tymon is no different than the current drug warriors in thinking that the law can be used to stamp them out of existence – if not by outright prohibition, then by taxation. Learning lessons from the past or from their econ textbooks is something neither group of people – “declare war” or “legalize and tax” – is very good at.
People like drugs and will use drugs. Trying to defeat the market only drives the market underground. Better to deal with it above board, on a social/cultural level, pulling in the law only in cases of criminal misconduct – like, say, driving stoned.
Tymon’s ignorance of market forces – shared by many – only proves those calling for legalization and heavy taxation fail to realize that their own solutions to the drug problem are “LOST ABORNING.” And hearing them bantered about time and again like valid answers gets boring, to boot.
Related offer:
“God Gave Wine,” a book by Kenneth Gentry and published by Joel Miller’s Oakdown Books, details what the Bible really says about alcohol. Get it at GodGaveWine.com.
Related columns:
Joel Miller’s entire drug-war archive
