Lothar121

The War on Drugs Keeps Kids Out of College
Ian Logsdon | Retriever | 09/05/2006

Last week I wrote an article in favor of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. My point had to do with the concept that, in fact some drugs really are not as dangerous as others. Right as the paper with that article went to print, we got a fax in the office having to do with students being kept out of universities due to drug related convictions. This sheds light on a whole other aspect of the unfair effects that current drug policies have on Americans. Not only are we not free to make an informed choice about what we put in our bodies, the government and school systems actually punish users by making enrollment in universities after drug convictions difficult if not impossible.

Now, the logic of this does seem somewhat backward, considering the effects this would have on someone who was attempting to recover from bad choices they made when they were younger. Essentially the policy states that if you once made mistakes about how to live your life, you forever forfeit the right to better yourself. Consider also that many of our presidents and other elected officials have admitted publicly that they tried drugs, where would we be if all these people had never been allowed to attend a university, if they had never gotten the education that put them where they are today. Every person has potential to be a constructive part of society, and by punishing them so severely or what often amounts to youthful indiscretion (sewing their wild oats as the president would say), what we are doing is hurting those people substantially and depriving ourselves of potential productive workers. Instead we force them to stay in the lowest levels of the job market, where there is high competition for jobs and low pay.

This is really just a symptom of the drug war in its entirety, since the mismanagement thereof has led to millions of Americans losing their freedom over what is really just an economic transaction. Many of these people were already poor, and their incarceration makes finding even the lowest level jobs difficult. When they can't make a living with honest work, the usually go back to drugs. This catch-22 hurts the poorest the hardest, since they're less likely to have good legal representation, and are less likely to be educated and have access to the better jobs where there is less competition. Add in the potential to lose any shot at college degrees and you have a massive system of economic and civil disenfranchisement, since in most states convicted felons lose the right to vote.

Now, to be clear, what I am not saying here is that all drugs are good, and that the government is lying to us just to take away our good time. Most drugs do have serious potential side effects, but instead of waging a reasonable campaign to curtail drug use, the current strategies are, lacking a better word, draconian. This all or nothing approach is further undermined by the tendency to lump all drugs together. The campaign against marijuana has resulted in so many half truths and outright lies that it reflects badly on the rest of the government's anti-drug efforts. Their assertion that THC, literally one of the least innocuous intoxicants in the world and possessing the potential to kill cancer cells, is actually a dangerous street drug is absurd. When someone then tries the drug and sees this is not the case, they are less likely to believe what they are told about other drugs, since the same agency is making all the claims. Our tax money is paying for all this, and those who are incarcerated are both taken off the job market and a cost to government, so what we are doing is essentially sinking massive amounts of money into a campaign which helps no one, and which spreads lies and a distrust in government. The only reasonable choice is policy reform, but politicians wont touch the issue because they don't want to be seen as weak on crime. Methods like the Colorado ballot initiative are the only way to make progress on this issue, and when the people mobilize on their own, eventually elected officials will understand and and make changes accordingly.

Ian Logsdon is the Retriever Weekly opinion section editor and can be reached for comment at opinion at trw dot umbc dot edu.

Tokamak

Fixed that for you.

Peace.

__________________
"He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know."
- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

kinghelwig

convictions for alot of things will hold you back,but drugs on your record will keep most doors closed.Once looked upon as youthful indiscrection is now looked upon as should have known better,well,ok,but in my opinion a conviction should not bar anyone from advancing in life,we are all human,we all make mistakes,and after we serve our time or sentence we should be given a chance to redeem ourselves,but thats not how society works,you are shunned by most and not tolerated by others,it's not like were living in a forgiving world or something.

godfather

Hmmmm....It is nice to imagine the other possibilities once in a while...