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Laurence M. Vance
FFF
The war on drugs is a failure. It has failed to prevent drug abuse. It has failed to keep drugs out of the hands of addicts. It has failed to keep drugs away from teenagers. It has failed to reduce the demand for drugs. It has failed to stop the violence associated with drug trafficking. It has failed to help drug addicts get treatment.
But the war on drugs has also succeeded.
It has succeeded in clogging the judicial system.
It has succeeded in swelling prison populations.
It has succeeded in corrupting law enforcement.
It has succeeded in destroying financial privacy.
It has succeeded in militarizing the police.
It has succeeded in hindering legitimate pain treatment.
It has succeeded in destroying the Fourth Amendment.
It has succeeded in eroding civil liberties.
It has succeeded in making criminals out of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Americans.
It has succeeded in wasting hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars.
It has succeeded in ruining countless lives.
Clearly, the financial and human costs of the drug war far exceed any of its supposed benefits. Clearly, the drug war violates the Constitution and exceeds the proper role of government. And clearly, the drug war is a war on personal freedom, private property, personal responsibility, individual liberty, personal and financial privacy, and the free market.
But the war on drugs is also something else. It is the most senseless of the government’s wars.
The Food and Drug Administration recently released nine new warning labels that will soon be appearing on packs of cigarettes. The new graphic labels will replace the four familiar and smaller text warnings that have appeared on cigarette packages for the past 25 years.
The United States was the first country to require health warnings on packs of cigarettes.
The original warning label, appearing on cigarette packs from 1966 to 1970, was “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health.” It was replaced from 1970 to 1985 with “Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined that Cigarette Smoking is Dangerous to Your Health.”
Since 1985, cigarette packs have contained one of four surgeon-general’s warnings:
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy.
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health.
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking By Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, And Low Birth Weight.
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide.
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