LANCASTER SUNDAY NEWS

Article “Riding a White Horse into Hell” reports:

“Heroin is now the number one abused drug in Lancaster County,” said John Burkhart who heads the county-wide drug task force.

“It’s the most dangerous drug and it’s everywhere, in every single town and borough in Lancaster.”

WATCHDOG: We compliment the editors of the Sunday News for spotlighting the proliferation of heroin in the county and, among other things, pointing out that drug abuse today is largely among white teenagers in suburban high schools, not disadvantaged inner city kids of color. Of course this has been known for a decade.

Moreover, our publisher for decades has been the major supporters of syringe exchanges in Central Pennsylvania, now in three cities, which reduce the spread of disease and assist addicts to find their way to recovery and back to productive lives.

But what is the force behind the seduction of our young and others? Money, money, money. The manufacturing and sales of illegal drugs is the biggest industry in the country, and likely in the world.

Our country passed a Constitutional amendment making the sale of alcohol, almost as powerful and addictive a drug, in 1920. It created a huge criminal market and worsened the situation by indirectly encouraging consumption of hard liquor, and thirteen years later a Constitutional amendment was passed to repeal the prohibition.

What did we learn from that in dealing with other powerful drugs? Apparently very little.

Marijuana is not a hard drug; it is hardly any more dangerous than coffee or Coca Cola. So let’s skip that for the moment.

The truly dangerous drugs are alcohol, nicotine, heroin, cocaine and amphetamines.

The first two we tax, regulate and control. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco are readily available almost anywhere to those twenty-one or older. There is no measurable black market in the sale of alcohol. What black market exists for tobacco is only to escape sales tax.

Consumption of alcoholic beverages and smoking are treated as a health issue, not criminal justice matters.
Both alcohol and nicotine approximate heroin, cocaine and amphetamines in their dangers.

So what would happen if the illegal hard drugs were also taxed, regulated and controlled?

The first thing would be the end of the illegal drug industry, savings thousands of lives and helping to reduce the cost of the criminal justice system and congestion in our prisons.

There would no longer be sales persons on the streets soliciting the use of these drugs, trying to get our youngsters hooked.

(Just like today’s heroin dealers, tobacco companies used to pass out their products to young people until giving away samples was made illegal.)

Those who became addicted and their loved ones would not need to hide their bad habit from the law and would be more likely to seek medical assistance. There would be no hesitancy by friends and acquaintances in rushing overdose vicitms to a hospital. (There is no danger of prosecution but most don’t know it.)

We have no doubt that taxation, regulation and control of legal marijuana is the proper direction for our country and the world.

We suspect that taxation, regulation and control of the currently illegal hard drugs would be an improvement for society, all things considered.