It has come to my attention that DSG recently chartered a Duke chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, a national organization. From a public policy standpoint, there are many benefits to having a club like this on our campus. A necessary dialogue will be raised about the costs and benefits associated with the United States' war on drugs.
Impugning the war on drugs is an ever-growing worldwide phenomenon. Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland and others have loosened their drug regulations. With fewer law enforcement officials pursuing non-violent members of society, their police forces now concentrate on real criminals. Moreover, by reducing legal and judicial spending and prison costs, these countries have funds available for drug education programming and treatment for those fighting drug addictions. Like alcoholism, drug addiction is a disease; the U.S. government makes felons out of these diseased individuals.
Are we willing to let our nation legislate our morality? Will our nation continue to dictate which social drugs we can put in our bodies and which we cannot? Will we ever emulate forward-thinking and forward-acting European nations or will we remain stuck in a socially conservative rut? Nevada's Nov. 5 vote on a marijuana initiative may be breeding grounds for a revolution in U.S. drug policy. If revolutions truly start from the bottom up, it makes sense that marijuana is the first target of reform. Unlike cigarettes and alcohol (legal and socially acceptable drugs), it is non-habit forming and non-lethal. Students, citizens, voters��is a sensible drug policy for the world's most powerful nation too much to ask?
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