Prohibitions

I was rereading The History of the Non-Medical Use of Drugs in the United States. It is the text of a speech given by Charles Whitebread, Professor of Law at the USC Law School, before the California Judges Association at their 1995 Conference. He also gave a similar speech at the FBI Academy.

The text is rather long so let me cut to the chase. Why are substance Prohibitions enacted? It is always us vs them.

Every criminal prohibition has that same touch to it, doesn’t it? It is enacted by US and it always regulates the conduct of THEM. And so, if you understand that is the name of the game, you don’t have to ask me, or any of the other people which prohibitions will be abolished and which ones won’t because you will always know. The iron law of prohibitions — all of them — is that they are passed by an identifiable US to control the conduct of an identifiable THEM.

And a prohibition is absolutely done for when it does what? Comes back and bothers US. If, at any time, in any way, that prohibition comes back and bothers us, we will get rid of it for sure, every doggone time. Look at the alcohol prohibition if you want a quick example. As long as it is only THEM — you know, them criminals, them crazy people, them young people, them minority group members — we are fine. But any prohibition that comes back and bothers US is done for.

Why are Republicans so fond of Drug Prohibition? Well the Republicans think the main targets are Democrats. That was Nixon’s intention when he ramped up the War On Drugs.

“[Nixon] emphasized that you have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks” Haldeman, his Chief of Staff wrote, “The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to.”

Now that Prohibition is going after their kids, Republicans are not quite as fond of the Drug War as they used to be.

So what about the gun prohibition idea that the Democrats are pushing so hard for? It is not about gangs, or murders. It will be a tool to punish Republicans who like guns more than Democrats do. Of course the Democrats who can afford it are not going to give up their armed guards. There will always be loopholes for guards. Especially those guarding Democrats.

The purpose of gun Prohibition will be to jail unfavored Republicans. And especially poor Republicans. The country yahoos.

But you know – all things considered it is only fair. Because Republicans like targeting poor urbanites – who are mainly Democrats.

Between the two parties it ought to be possible to get nearly all the poor under direct government supervision if they are not already locked up.

Do you want to make some money off of all this? Invest in private prisons which are guaranteed by the government to have a minimum of 90% occupancy. Those prisoners will have to come from somewhere. Guaranteed.

And the job of the police in all this? Well that is rather obvious. They must supply a steady stream of prisoners to keep the jails filled. And if asset forfeiture is attached to gun crimes they will also be expected to maintain a good revenue flow for the government so taxes do not have to be raised.

What does all this do for politics? Felons can be permanently disenfranchised. Excellent. The more felons from the other party the better. It helps win elections. It is why Democrats seem to fight so hard for drug users and why Republicans provide the same service for gun owners. It is also why Democrats do not fight too hard against drug prohibition and why Republicans will not oppose gun prohibition too strongly. Those prohibitions will insure each party with a more or less permanent constituency. Ain’t politics grand?

That explains quite nicely why Obama has not ended cannabis prohibition – which he could have done on his first day in office legally. It is in the Controlled Substances Act – you can look it up. It may also be why Republicans are not too strong on fighting gun “control”. Without the threat of gun control they might not get so many votes.

It is a wonderful thing to be a citizen of the land of the free, isn’t it?