The Stealth Movement to Legalize Cocaine is Gaining Traction

Why aren’t we leveraging our weaknesses in our favor?

Whenever I read headlines boasting about record drug seizures at sea, I don’t feel our society is winning anything. Rather, I see us gleefully throwing away millions that could benefit the public good.

Take for instance the recent interdiction of $500 million worth of cocaine and marijuana seized across 13 operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Over 45,000 pounds confiscated, prevented from reaching consumer markets.

On the surface, authorities frame this as victory, keeping dangerous contraband off the streets. But consider the deeper implications.

That’s half a billion in potential tax revenue destroyed, enough to transform many lives through social programs. Instead, it’s sent literally up in smoke by prohibitionist ideology.

Even more ironically, the money will be wasted prosecuting and jailing the smugglers who were simply responding to customer demand. This endless game of cops and robbers squanders public funds.

Meanwhile, the cartels happily absorb the losses, comforted their immense profits remain intact. They even benefit from reduced market supply driving up prices.

So who really wins from this street value headline spree? Because it sure isn’t harm reduction or public interest.

Just imagine if we exploited our vices intelligently, regulating and taxing drugs to fund communities instead of criminals.

Those massive piles of seized powder could finance schools, rehabilitation, housing, healthcare, and youth programs. Addiction could be treated holistically.

We could even explore reparations for marginalized communities devastated by the war on drugs. The possibilities are immense.

But under prohibition, that utopian potential gets torpedoed and sent literally down the drain. When will we stop burning money and wasting human lives to target our own shadow? The system makes no sense.

Our weakness is ignorance of history, clinging to puritan myths about human nature.

Cannabis.net uncovered this movement at the Benzinga Cannabis Conference in Miami with an article entitled, “Cash Is King, Use Your Data, and Go Sell Legal Cocaine in Canada”.

Let’s break down what positive purposes $500 million in taxed drug revenue could serve our society, instead of literally going down the drain through seizures. That massive stack of contraband cash equates to immense potential public good.

For starters, it could provide 10,000 affordable housing units across the country, helping address chronic homelessness. No more veterans sleeping under highways or families on the edge of eviction. Stability for thousands.

Or we could fully revitalize multiple impoverished neighborhoods by investing in new infrastructure, schools, healthcare clinics, youth programs, green spaces and local businesses. Communities would transform from desperation to prosperity.

Imagine too if those funds went directly into drug rehabilitation, abuse prevention and mental health resources. We could support thousands getting clean while researching holistic alternatives to incarceration and empowering healthy communities.

That $500 million could also cover free community college tuition for 50,000 students. Imagine how many more would pursue higher education and well-paying careers without the burden of student debt. Knowledge shouldn’t be exclusive.

We could even dedicate $100 million towards direct monthly payments to single parents or caregivers to ease financial stresses. Parents already work harder than anyone. Let’s give them a hand up, not judgment.

Or consider medical applications. Half a billion could provide cancer treatment for 50,000 patients unable to afford it otherwise. The most vulnerable shouldn’t face death because of income. We have the resources in abundance.

The list is endless. Infrastructure, hospitals, green energy projects, small business grants, you name it. Almost any public need could be better served by regulated drug taxes than what the DEA is doing.

Clearly our society suffers not from a lack of funds but of imagination and compassion around using it wisely. We keep digging the hole of drug war waste deeper wondering why things don’t improve.

But the solutions are right there in front of us, if we muster the courage. End the charade of zero-tolerance. Embrace pragmatic harm reduction. Let human needs guide policy, not puritanical myths about eradicating desire.

The choice comes down to wasting more money destroying lives, or using that wealth intelligently to lift up lives. Our shared wellbeing hangs in the balance. 50 years of drug war has only bred more suffering. Isn’t it time we tried a society based on healing not punishment?

It’s true, drugs definitely have the potential to ruin lives when misused. But our policies around permitted substances versus banned ones reveals glaring hypocrisies.

Alcohol, for instance, kills over 95,000 Americans annually through health complications and drunk driving accidents. Tobacco claims over 400,000 lives a year via cancer, lung disease and other ailments.

Yet these two legal drugs account for more deaths than all illicit drugs combined – including notorious “hard drugs” like heroin and cocaine. Alcohol causes more societal harm through violence and addiction than any illegal substance.

The numbers don’t lie. CDC data shows alcohol contributes to around 11 million violent crimes annually, including murder, rape and domestic abuse. Meanwhile FDA-approved pharmaceutical opioids claim tens of thousands of lives in the overdose epidemic.

Clearly legality is no measure of a drug’s potential for harm. In many cases, the most dangerous substances on both a personal and societal level are sold over the counter.

So why do we accept such glaring double standards around certain drugs? What makes alcohol and tobacco intrinsically safer than cannabis, LSD or psilocybin – which have never caused a lethal overdose?

The answer lies less in pharmacology than morality. Our drug prohibitions derive more from political agendas and ingrained cultural bias than any scientific risk assessment.

Critics argue banning drugs is necessary because some individuals may ruin their lives. But this blanket justification could apply equally to cheeseburgers or skydiving or any number of potentially harmful but legally permitted activities we sensibly regulate for public safety.

A health-first approach recognizes adult freedoms while mitigating harm through education and support resources. It funds rehabilitation through reasonable vice taxes rather than jailing non-violent users.

We don’t have to ban peanuts outright because some children are allergic. Nor should we undermine civil liberties over puritanical notions of eliminating consensual adult activity with some potential downsides.

In a truly just society, policies arise from compassion not fear or judgment. We can deter harmful drug use through pragmatic health policies while respecting liberties. It simply requires shedding lingering prohibitive mentalities not grounded in facts.

Because the evidence shows virtually all drugs, like any substance, carry some risks and benefits depending on context. Blanket bans based on outdated cultural bias make no sense. A nuanced public health framework allows maximizing benefits while providing help to those who need it.

That $500 million drug seizure was just a fraction of the total US illicit drug profits we allow cartels to keep every year. The combined domestic market across all illegal drugs rakes in around $100-150 billion annually.

Let’s take the lowest estimate of $100 billion. Here’s just some of what we could fund if that black market operated above board and paid reasonable vice taxes:

• 20 billion towards drug rehabilitation programs, sober living facilities, mental health services, and community support. Helping those who need it most.

• 20 billion to community colleges and trade schools for free vocational training and higher education access. Investing in the next generation.

• 10 billion in grants for community projects like youth programs, food banks, battered women shelters, art spaces and more. Supporting vibrant, nurturing neighborhoods.

• 10 billion to house every homeless veteran and low-income family currently on the streets, because no one should face such indignity in a wealthy nation.

• 10 billion in small business grants for entrepreneurs from marginalized communities to spur economic mobility. Expanding opportunities.

• 10 billion for infrastructure upgrades to roads, broadband internet, green energy projects and public transit. Building toward the future.

• 5 billion in direct aid to single parents and caregivers struggling with childcare costs and unpaid labor. Recognizing their value.

• 5 billion for universal healthcare programs and subsidies for life-saving medications like insulin. Health is a fundamental right.

And this is just a fraction of what we could accomplish by regulating instead of prohibiting. We haven’t even touched large investments in schools, hospitals, nutrition programs, parks, conservation, scientific research and more. The possibilities are endless.

Yet we currently forfeit all this social potential by clinging to a failed criminalization model that causes more harm than any drug. Our choice fuels violent cartels when it could uplift our own communities.

Over $50 billion gets spent annually on drug law enforcement with little effect on supply or demand. But just a fraction of the overall market’s tax revenues could transform millions of lives for the better.

At a certain point we must confront reality – prohibition is an irrational policy failing by any metric.

The tide is clearly turning towards cannabis legalization in America, as evidenced by successive states adopting more enlightened policies even amidst federal foot-dragging. This momentum is encouraging.

However, the bigger issue remains dismantling prohibition across the board. As long as any consensual substances remain arbitrarily criminalized, excessive harms and wasted opportunity will persist.

Cannabis legalization is an important first step. But policy reform must not stop there. Entheogens, cocaine, opioids, and other demonized chemicals should be guided by humane pragmatism, not the antiquated absolutism of the drug war.

Because the core calculus remains – we currently forfeit at least $100 billion in potential annual revenue from regulated adult drug markets. Money that could uplift our communities through schools, healthcare, housing and more.

Yet we cling to a puritanical “zero-tolerance” ideology that only worsens problems. Over $50 billion gets spent annually on drug law enforcement, for negligible impact on supply or demand. Our own shadow remains unaddressed.

Does it make sense to keep wasting billions disrupting consenting adult activities that will never disappear? Especially when we could be generating wealth to help people and repair the damage from systemic oppression?

The drug war serves to prop up the corporate monopolies of Big Pharma, for-profit prisons, corrupt police unions, and the shadowy DEA itself. It must end for society’s greater good.

But change begins in our minds. We must shed the remnants of Reefer Madness propaganda and perceive drug regulation through the lens of pragmatic humanism, not dogma and fear.

Addiction and abuse can be better addressed through healthcare and education than handcuffs and intolerance. And responsible adult freedoms need not be constrained because some statistically will misuse them. Such is the nature of liberty.

The sticky bottom line is that prohibition is philosophically and economically irrational. Its cruelties serve only to divide society against itself. But pragmatic harm reduction fosters compassion, community, and optimal outcomes based on human needs.

The money and solutions are there when we muster courage. All that’s missing is the awakening to evolve past our own hypocrisies. But as old ways crumble, a more beautiful world unfolds.

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