SAN DIEGO -- Don't kid yourself. Although ballot measures passed in Arizona and California are only about medical use of marijuana, they've brought the idea of drug legalization to center stage. More and more people think legalization might just be the answer to the nation's drug and crime problems.
It's a dangerous trend, but pro-legalization idealists can make it sound very rational. Drug use, they say, is a victimless crime, and by making drugs illegal we are turning otherwise decent citizens into criminals. They also blame drug laws for overcrowding our jails and prisons.
Scientific and sociological studies make strong arguments the other way.
First of all, drug use is not victimless. Every year tens of thousands of Americans are victims of crime, child abuse and domestic violence. Drugs and alcohol are the No. 1 cause of these problems:
A study released this year by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that 75 percent of all crimes involve drugs and alcohol. This is not just drug possession and trafficking. It includes property crime, such as burglary and car theft, and violent crime up to and including murder. In fact, most murders are committed by people under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
A study of child-protection and foster care agencies in New York found that 77 percent of abuse cases involved alcohol and drugs.
A study in Indiana found that 54 percent of men assaulting their mates had a drug problem.
Research from Prohibition through today shows us that drug availability increases drug use, abuse and addiction. Legalization would mean more drug abuse, and therefore more victims of crime, child abuse and domestic violence.
The next argument, that drug prohibition is overcrowding our prisons, is also wrong. Drug legalization would increase crime.
People in America's jails and prisons can be divided into three nearly equal groups -- those in for drug crimes, for property crimes and for violent crimes. Legalization proponents only like RTC to talk about drug crimes. Without prohibition, they say, these people would not be clogging our criminal-justice system.
Or would they? Remember, most people selling drugs are users, too. And 75 percent of all crime is related to drug and alcohol use. Even property crimes, such as burglary and car theft, are often drug- and alcohol-related. As addiction grows, so will crime.
The alcohol precedent
