Why Don't Conservatives Oppose the War on Drugs?

Why Don't Conservatives Oppose the War on Drugs?
by Laurence M. Vance

The war on drugs is a failure.

According to the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: "Drug use in the United States increased in 2009, reversing downward trends since 2002." There was a spike in the number of Americans admitting to using marijuana, ecstasy, and methamphetamine.

Yet, no matter how much it costs to wage the federal drug war (more than $41 billion according to a just-released Cato Institute study), conservatives generally support it. I know of no prominent conservative who publicly calls for drug legalization. I know of no Republican candidate in the recent election (outside of Ron Paul) who has ever publicly voiced his support for the decriminalization of drug possession. Republicans in Congress – by an overwhelming majority – have even criminalized the purchase of over-the-counter allergy-relief products like Sudafed because they contain pseudoephedrine.

Negative arguments about how the war on drugs ruins lives, erodes civil liberties, and destroys financial privacy are unpersuasive to most conservatives. None of these things matter to the typical conservative because they, like most Americans of any political persuasion, see using drugs for recreational use as immoral.

The hypocrisy of conservatives who support the war on drugs but not the prohibition of alcohol should be readily apparent. But aside from a small minority of conservative religious people that long for the days of Prohibition, conservatives generally don’t support making the drinking of alcohol a crime even though alcohol is a factor in many accidents, crimes, and premature deaths. So why is getting high on drugs treated differently from getting high on alcohol?

The reason conservatives should oppose the war on drugs is a simple one that has nothing to do with positive, negative, or financial arguments. Drug prohibition by the federal government is simply unconstitutional. Conservatives claim to revere the Constitution. They regularly lambaste judges for being activists and not strict constitutionalists. In the "Pledge to America" they released a few weeks before the recent election, House Republicans promised to "honor the Constitution as constructed by its framers and honor the original intent of those precepts that have been consistently ignored – particularly the Tenth Amendment. "

In article I, section 8, of the Constitution, there are eighteen specific powers granted to Congress. We call these the enumerated powers. Everything else is reserved to the states – with or without the Tenth Amendment. Nowhere does the Constitution authorize the federal government to concern itself with the nature and quantity of any substance Americans inhale or otherwise take into their body. Nowhere does the Constitution authorize the federal government to prohibit drug manufacture, sale, or use. Nowhere does the Constitution authorize the federal government to ban anything. When the Progressives wanted the United States government to ban alcohol, they realized that an amendment to the Constitution was needed.

Drug prohibition is likewise incompatible with private property, individual liberty, personal responsibility, free markets, and limited government – things that conservatives claim to believe in. What happened to the conservative emphasis on families, churches, private charities, and faith-based organizations solving problems instead of looking to the federal government to solve them?

But if conservatives want a war on drugs or any other personal freedom, then from a constitutional standpoint it is at the state level that they must wage their war. From a libertarian standpoint, state (or local) attempts to prohibit or to tax and/or regulate drugs are likewise attacks on property and freedom. But from a constitutional perspective, conservatives should be just as against a federal war on drugs as libertarians are.

So, if conservatives want to be both constitutional and consistent, they would have to say that there should be no National Drug Control Strategy, no National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and no Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program. They would have to say that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the Drug Enforcement Administration should all be abolished. And they would have to say that the Controlled Substances Act, Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, and Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act should all be repealed.

Although I would vehemently oppose their war on drugs at the state and local level, conservatives could abolish all those federal agencies while at the same time waging a relentless war on drugs – and all vice – at the state and local levels.

Why do conservatives, who profess to revere individual liberty, free markets, private property, limited government, and the Constitution continue to support the war on drugs?

Why do conservatives do/believe what they do? Who knows? They certainly aren't consistent in any of their positions, save one:

They bristle with anger when anyone points our their hypocrisy, and frequently attempt to silence such a person.

I've not met a conservative yet who doesn't lose their temper, even if it's just a little bit, when questions like the one on this thread are asked.

What do conservatives actually believe, as opposed to what they say they believe?

They say they believe in limited government. But they actually believe in republican party government....the fewer limitations the better. For example; conservatives don't want to eliminate the Dep. of Education....oh sure, they decry how the government has intruded into schools, teaching the kids all that "liberal crap," but at the same time conservatives want to dictate what is in school text books....stuff like "intelligent design," and other things. They want government power for themselves...they don't want to limit government at all.

They say they believe in lower spending, but the actually believe in increased spending, as long as the money is spent on the military and the war on drugs....among other things.

They say they believe in a strong national defense. But the habitually, without exception, vote for people who have purposely left our Southern Border wide open while at the same time waging a very long war against a 19th century opponent....which is NOT a strong national defense at all. It's a National Offense! (we can debate how strong it is)

Conservatives love the military and are happy when America is at war. They don't want the wars to end.

Conservatives say they want to decrease Waste Fraud and Corruption in the government.....and they want government power in order to do so! They do not believe that big government is the problem....only that wasteful, fraudulent government is the problem....like it can work if the right people are in charge.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that conservatives are almost all blind, deaf, and dumb. They don't know who they are, fail to see the hypocrisy and contradictions in their ideology and certainly won't listen to some inferior being who isn't parroting Rush! They know best, and if they ever get the power they want, we're all going to suffer.

Conservatives=Pharisees. The similarities are striking, right up to the refusal to examine themselves.

I remember Voice of Reason on ACOC (he's a mod there now). He was stated that he was busted on a marijuana charge when he was younger and that's why he wanted to keep it illegal. In other words, his position was vengeful rather than reasoned. It was disgusting to read about that and have him turn around and insult those who challenged him on it.

swiftfoxmark2 wrote:I remember Voice of Reason on ACOC (he's a mod there now). He was stated that he was busted on a marijuana charge when he was younger and that's why he wanted to keep it illegal. In other words, his position was vengeful rather than reasoned. It was disgusting to read about that and have him turn around and insult those who challenged him on it.

VOR is a mean, nasty person. I'm not surprised at all by that.

And I hate to say it, but most conservatives are! I've yet to meet one that has a "live and let live" attitude. They all want to control and shape things.....exactly why I hate dems and socialists, who want the same power but with a different end in mind.

Conservatives find power delicious. They'll never do anything to limit government power, as long as they've got it.