“Win the war on drugs quickly and effectively”

Our Proposal:

• Win by destroying the economics: legalize possession of drugs, eliminate the profit
• Set up special support for those with addictions
• Redirect the drug-law enforcement resources to education, treatment, and to fighting human trafficking

The Goal:

• Destroy the illicit drug business by destroying the flow of money
• Through education and treatment, work toward a drug-free society
• End human trafficking 

Explanation:

The Solutions Party believes that the "war on drugs” has been a dismal and disastrous failure. Since 1971 the American taxpayer has shelled out over one trillion dollars to support this effort, and what do we have to show for it? Simply stated, tens of millions of hooked Americans are sending billons of drug-buying dollars annually to the cartels in Central and South America in exchange for highly addictive narcotics that ravage the brain and destroy lives, families and communities. 

The cost of this drug use epidemic is staggering. Consider:

- Health consequences: Millions of Americans suffer from permanent brain damage due to drug abuse, rendering them incapable of ever having productive lives. This creates a huge drag on social resources and welfare, not to mention being a major cause of homelessness. 

- The assault on our children: Drug pushers in schools and elsewhere target our most vulnerable children, seeking to get them hooked with substances that quickly and permanently alter the brain. More than 90% of people who have an illicit drug addiction started to abuse such drugs before age 18. 

- Failed states: The money that drug cartels receive from the US market allow them to exert immense control over the countries in which they operate. Armed with mountains of US-imported drug cash and massive arsenals of weapons, with the policy of “plata o plomo” (bucks or bullets) they buy the compliance of the police, politicians, judges, the armed forces, and otherwise eliminate those that do not cooperate. These (for all intents and purposes) failed Central and South American states are major source of illegal immigration.

- Illegal immigration: The drug cartels in countries like Honduras, El Salvador, and many others in the region are responsible directly and indirectly for horrific levels of crime. They infiltrate the schools and force school-age boys to join their gangs, and girls to service their members. They extort payments from legitimate businesses. The high levels of crime make these countries unattractive for investment, tourism, and other job-creating activities. The lack of economic opportunity in turn further spurs more crime. Is it any wonder that so many people from these countries are desperate to leave and find haven in the United States? If the situation were like that in our country, wouldn’t you consider finding refuge elsewhere?

President Nixon, who started the “War on Drugs” in 1971, had to have known that it would be as successful as Prohibition was—in other words, a complete fiasco. In fact, as one of Nixon’s top aides (John D. Ehrlichman) would later confess, the real purpose of the War on Drugs was to attack his enemies, mainly people of color. Sadly, this result is clearly reflected in the disproportional number of incarcerations of people of color due to illicit drug-related activities. 

The Solution Party proposes ending the drug war, and in turn eliminating the cartels, by destroying the economics of the illicit drug business. Our bold plan entails the following:

1. Popular narcotics will be manufactured and distributed under the auspices of the federal and state governments, and made freely available at little or no cost, thus making it impossible to make a profit manufacturing and/or selling these illicit drugs
2. Drug-abuse and addiction prevention educational efforts will be greatly increased
3. Treatment will be made freely available to those who need it
4. Free but modest housing will be provided to the hopelessly addicted homeless, where they will have access to basic necessities and treatment
5. Steps 2)~4) will be implemented with the savings from winding down the expensive and futile enforcement efforts

With the illicit drug trade made unprofitable, the cartels will of course seek other forms of revenue, most likely chief among them human trafficking. In anticipation of this, law enforcement efforts that currently are dedicated to the drug war will be shifted to aggressively eliminating human trafficking operations. 

We recognize that there will always be individuals who choose to abuse narcotics, just as many abuse tobacco and alcohol. But the idea is to eliminate the financial incentives that cause drugs to be proactively pushed in our schools and elsewhere, and to make sure those who become hooked will not need to resort to crime to satisfy their addiction. What is most critical is prevention and providing help to the recently addicted before it is too late, before the damage to the brain becomes permanent and a full recovery becomes impossible.

We envision the benefits of our proposed approach to the drug problem to be immense and immediately apparent. Some of these benefits include:

1. Neighborhoods that have long suffered from high levels of drug-related crime and gang activity will become much more attractive for living, business and other economic activity, and investment. This means better schools, better jobs, and a better quality of life.
2. The proactive pushing of illicit drugs in schools and elsewhere will be far reduced due to lack of economic incentive to do so. This should result in dramatically fewer students and others getting hooked.
3. Fewer addicts means fewer people living in the streets and/or otherwise depending on social welfare programs.
4. Drug-related incarcerations will be greatly reduced, if not virtually eliminated
5. Drug cartels will be robbed of their primary source of income, thus making it harder for them to exert control in the Central and South American countries where they operate. This will make these countries far more attractive for economy-spurring activities such as tourism, manufacturing, and investment. The greater economic opportunity will reduce the need and incentive to illegally immigrate (escape) to other countries.

The Solutions Party proposal represents a bold new approach that will destroy the cartels, put the pushers out of business, result in far fewer drug addicts in our country, improve prosperity throughout the hemisphere including in our most challenged cities and neighborhoods, and lead to less illegal immigration. 

Let’s do this!