Exit Strategy

Consider The War On Drugs. Forget about all the drama and argument about whether or not it's a war we ought to be fighting and, instead, try to imagine what the end of The War On Drugs will look like. And actually I don't think it matters if you imagine it as having been won or lost because, no matter how it ends, the end of this war will come with some unavoidable issues. Anyone who has spent time trying to understand the factors at play with The War On Drugs knows that it has created an entire industry based around it. Euphemisms like "community" (i.e. Law Enforcement Community) are used for it's different sectors, but the fact is that The War On Drugs has created a massive Drug War Industry that our own federal government puts over fifty billion dollars a year into. State money and illegal drug trade money don't even need to be considered when you realize you're looking at a federally funded market worth more than fifty billion annually. However, if you do consider the illegal trade (state money is just a fraction of federal) then you'll realize where the big money really is. Although the actual figures are hard to be sure of, for obvious reasons, global estimates are about three hundred twenty billion a year. This Drug War Industry has been growing and supporting itself through the violent and destructive symbiosis between law enforcement and organized crime for decades now, leeching a literal trillion dollars from our economy since it's initiation. But there are other sectors like testing companies, private prison systems and recovery treatment facilities that are a very profitable part of this industry as well. Now let's, for the purpose of this line of thought, ignore what this says about The War On Drugs and think about how it impacts a post drug war world. For better or for worse there are a lot of people who depend on the opportunities created by the Drug War Industry to bring home the bacon and when that business suddenly goes belly up, so do the opportunities. We're talking opportunities for everybody from street level dealers and beat cops to kingpins and high level federal officials. Even the people who run recovery treatment facilities and test your pee take a hit. That's a lot of people and if they're all suddenly unemployed or making a lot less than they were, everybody is going to feel that. But the problems don't stop there. We cannot forget that there are also legal, pharmaceutical drugs woven into the fabric of the Drug War Industry. Keeping that in mind, we have to consider this question: if the goal for The War On Drugs is to stop the production, distribution and use of illegal substances, then how has a post drug war world managed to handle drugs that can be legally prescribed? You only have to look at the rate of illegal pharmaceutical drug use to see that our current systems fall far short of the stated goal, but does that mean we should just say fuck it and let everybody do whatever they want? Or is there a perfect piece of legislation that will keep these kinds of drugs from being used recreationally? Another issue I see, and this may be a stretch for some of you, especially if you've never used drugs, is that drugs are a very important and prominent part of our history. For starters, there's not insubstantial evidence to suggest that "magic mushrooms" were an essential, if not preeminent influence that, in conjunction with other factors like change in diet, contributed to the doubling of the human brain size in an amount of time that is considered unusually rapid on the evolutionary scale. We also cannot forget or discount the countless artists (both modern and classic) and influential figures who attribute important parts of their success or failure, depending on the case, to drugs. There's just to much to cover here, but you could do an extremely interesting historical study on the role that drugs have played in history. From the influence of mushrooms in ancient fertility cults to the transition into alcohol in more modern times and all the things like ergot poisoning, which is suspected of having LSD like effects and being a catalyst for unexplainably crazy events in human history, especially in the middle ages. Like it or not, the existence and influence of drugs in the human experience cannot be denied by anyone who plays by the rules of evidence. Now when the Drug War Industry (which currently handles all things drugs) goes belly up, how will that change our current relationship to drugs? If the most extreme vision of victory for The War On Drugs is achieved and drugs are totally absent from the human experience, then what effect does that have on humanity? On the other hand, no one wants de-regulated drug production and distribution, so how do we manage that safely without creating another war industry? When it comes to drugs, the only clear cut, black and white statement you can make is that they are complicated and anything but a black and white, clear cut issue. Many societies have embraced and venerated drug use and ceremony while others, like ours, have tried to enforce a non-interaction policy. As we look out to the future of our relationship with drugs I don't think there's any question that it is in the process of serious change that is being catalyzed by more accurate information about drugs being available than ever before and exposure of the damage being caused by the War on Drugs happening on a scale not previously possible. All things considered though, when this industry, that justifies it's existence with autocratic ideals, has either had its way or been thrown down, there will be extensive vacuums of economic, political and social energy left behind. These future vacuums are currently pillars holding up important pieces of our society and we need to think about what will happen with that weight once they're gone. I will reference the beginning of this blog to make my ending point. If you'll remember (or re-read) I said that this line of thought would work whether you imagine The War On Drugs having been won or lost, but let's get real: The War On Drugs will never be won. If over a trillion dollars and four decades can't get it done, what the fuck can? So we are realistically left with one scenario, and that's us losing to drugs. Considering that fact, there's only one real question left: when it comes to The War On Drugs, do we need an exit strategy or do we just get the hell out?