Those Darn Drugs

  THOSE DARN DRUGS

Representative Dunwell has enlightened us with reference to the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy or ODCP.  Presumably this is to soften the blow of a renewed war on the citizens of Iowa which is euphemistically termed "The War on Drugs".  The Office of Drug Control Policy has as its defining purpose the arrest and prosecution of all who indulge in substances which our enlightened legislators have decided we can't have, use, deliver, conspire with, or otherwise engage in.

We have been told for years that "drugs" are bad and woe unto those who don't do as they are told - - here in the land of the free. This flows right into an announced freedom - - to have guns ready at hand.  I saw the other day, the remark by a legislator that the legislature will be addressing once again the "freedom" to possess weapons.  Now one can only assume that the rationale for all this is that drugs are bad and guns are good.  

For various reasons, I have some concern with this selective use of the word "freedom".  I for one, would certainly feel safer, and be safer, if I am confronted in front of the courthouse with someone who had a little meth in his pocket as opposed to someone bristling with hardware.  There is little possibility that the person with a little meth in his pocket is going to tackle me, hold me down, pry my mouth open, and stuff in some meth or other illegal substance he or she just happens to have on them as they stroll around town.  On the other hand, I don't need to be tackled to get shot and the person doing the shooting can even be across the street.

The war on drugs has caused immense suffering in this country - - far more suffering than the use of drugs ever has or will.  Prosecuting someone for the use of drugs, which by the way, is a crime that has no victim (to say otherwise is making things up again), disrupts the life of not only the person being arrested, but his or her family, employer, and others who have a personal relationship with the person being arrested.  I am not being harmed, if my neighbor smokes marijuana in his house or snorts a line of coke or meth.  It is none of my business nor should it be the State's.

The cliche that drugs destroy lives is simply nonsense.  Prison destroys lives.  If you want to see someone whose life has been destroyed, hop down to our local prison and take a look around and then tell me that the people inside haven't had their lives destroyed. And while there, take a good look at mom and the kids coming for a visit. There has always been a demand for drugs, there is a demand for drugs today, and there will always be a demand for drugs.  The Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) is not for the purpose of controlling drugs, it is for the purpose of controlling the people of Iowa.  Drugs will be with us as long as there is a demand so how about it, let's just get over it already.  After all, aren't we free?

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo, Iowa