Alcohol is addictive and it kills a lot of people, but we would ban it at our peril. The Americans tried that when they passed the Volstead Act in 1920 and until 1933 the United States was "dry ". In reality, it was awash with grog ! It poured into the country over unsealable borders and illicit breweries flourished in every state. It was the era of "Speakeasies "- hidden bars operated by criminals to provide the liquor that ordinary people craved.
Vast sums were spent and the police tried to stop the flow - to no avail, and in 1933 prohibition was lifted - and it became legal to drink alcohol.
Temperance societies tried to ban alcohol in Australia and for many years we had very restrictive laws - and these were constantly broken. Alcoholics have a shortened life span and many die of cirrhosis of the liver. Alcohol features in many fatal road accidents and is the cause of much "death by misadventure ", but taking the broad brush approach reveals a very different picture.
A huge number of Australians use liquor sensibly. Most of us can remember an occasion when we had "one too many "at a party and there are some who go on a regular Saturday night "bender ", but are totally sober for the rest of the week. The drunken hooligans who give Kings Cross a bad name usually calm down in later life. Alcohol is a problem we have learned to live with.
There seems a strange correlation between prohibition in America and the war we are steadily losing here with drugs. Just as people demanded their liquor and broke the law to get it, those that crave a "high " on the party scene are just as determined to get it - and law enforcement here has been just as unsuccessful as the US cops in imposing prohibition.
What if we accepted that it was lawful to buy a drug that delivered a high on demand ? At least it would be a product produced in a legitimate factory to a known strength, unlike the volatile products produced by untrained people that now flood the market - and often kill users.
Our laws encourage the crime scene because big money can be made. We spend a fortune on law enforcement trying to stop drugs and we fill our prisons with drug people, but all that does little to stop the endless flow reaching willing customers - and that is the salient point of the whole exercise.
We will never win the drug war as long as people crave the high drugs deliver - and can we really claim that there is much difference between popping a pill for a high - or consuming a vast amount of alcohol ? At least those pills legally available would be of a known quality - and as a new product it would be contributing to the tax net.
Drugs would certainly continue to be abused - just as alcohol is abused - but just as now it is only a segment of the population that abuses both products, and we would have completely deflated the drug crime scene. Making such drugs legally available is a big risk, but eventually defeat has to be faced.
Making such a decision sends politicians of all stripes blanching in horror !
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