Few Americans today realize that all narcotics were legal from the beginning of this nation until the imposition of Prohibition in 1920. During the first 144 years of this nation anyone could purchase opium, heroin, morphine and cocaine-even from the Sears Roebuck catalog. Yet, despite the ready availability of legal drugs, the percentage of addicts in America's population was steadily declining for two decades before prohibition. Drug crime was negligible. But more important, by the government's own calculations, the percentage of addicts has quadrupled under prohibition. Crime associated with illegal drug trafficking menaces our society. This being true, what purpose does prohibition serve?
Based on results achieved, the anti-drug bureaucracy cannot justify itself. The only beneficiaries of prohibition have been the illegal drug cartels and the federal drug warriors. The livelihood of both depend on the drug war continuing. Everyone else suffers, especially inner city juveniles.
President Clinton told his Mexican audience in the summer of 1997, "America's problem is we comprise less than 5% of the world's population, but consume nearly half of the world's illegal drugs." Obviously, the problem is American's demand for illegal drugs, but the government tries to dry up the supply of drugs to enforce abstinence. However, in 78 years of drug prohibition, nary a soul has been saved from the drug habit for a lack of illegal drugs for sale.
Washington's anti-drug bureaucrats make the self-serving claim that legalizing narcotics and cocaine will vastly increase the percentage of addicts in the population. As noted above, historical evidence ridicules that position.
The government fails to recognize the effectiveness of thousands of motivated illegal drug entrepreneurs who borrowed the Amway Corporation's successful pyramid marketing strategy to spread drug use throughout the country. Illegal drug trafficking exacts a terrible cost in lives and money. Conversely, America experiences a steady decline in the per capita consumption of nicotine and alcohol. Little crime is associated with this legitimate market. But, illegal drug profits have created the world's greatest criminal enterprise which has corrupted every institution of this nation.
Alcohol prohibition was determined to be a failure and repealed after 13 years. With repeal, Al Capone, bootleggers, hijackers, Tommy-guns, moonshiners, speakeasies and "flaming youth" all faded from the scene. America will experience a similar return to normalcy with drug legalization.
Colonel Dowd presents a bold plan to lead America out of its drug morass and presents historical evidence to verify his strategy. The book refutes the government's self-serving declaration that only prohibition can control drugs. Read the facts and draw your own conclusions. "The Enemy Is Us" unveils the enemy at home and calls for an end to the government's mad rush toward a police state. No bureaucrat can save your children from the drug habit-only they can do that for themselves.
