The pharmacological effects of coffee and cocaine — unlike alcohol — generally do not lead to the commission of crimes. It is the extremely high value of cocaine that results in crime. Drug dealers are associated with murder, kidnapping, taking over towns, drive-by shootings, money laundering, violence against law enforcement, and more. Drug users and addicts, in order to be able to afford the costly drug, commit crimes including car-jackings, burglaries, robberies, and thefts of all varieties. (In 32 years of criminal defense practice, I have never encountered a turf-war involving coffee). Snitches are sometimes killed. Mules (who smuggle illegal drugs) die from many causes ranging from homicide to accidental overdoses when the balloons in their bodies burst unexpectedly.
The price of coke is so high because it is illegal. If the government did not create and support the artificially high street price of cocaine, the cocaine-associated crime would disappear. I should also mention that on the other side of the world, poppies are grown, harvested, and processed into heroin by the Taliban. This illegal drug provides a major source of funding for worldwide terrorist activities. Easy legal availability of these drugs might increase the number of users and addicts. The resulting public health problem, though unfortunate, would be accompanied by a marked reduction in violent crimes that claim innocent victims.
Today, those found guilty of various drug crimes such as possession and sale go to prison at a cost of $30,000 a year or so. Minorities are disproportionately turned into non-voting felons who, once out of prison, will have trouble getting jobs for the rest of their lives. Many owe thousands of dollars that they cannot afford for the attorneys they hired to defend their drug case. I am among the majority of defense attorneys who would happily forego the fees associated with drug-crime defense as a consequence of legalization.
Given the choice between having illegal drug users presenting a public health issue, or providing funding for violence—gang violence or terrorist violence—we should be electing to deal with the public health issue. A further benefit of legalization and regulation: pharmacologically induced death is frequently associated with street drugs whose purity is unknown by the user. Legalizing and controlling these drugs will shift the burden of who pays the price from all of us to the people who are actually using the illegal drugs, their families, and friends. There is still a cost to society, but it is a burden to be born primarily by the users, and not so much by the rest of us.
(Guest Post by Boulder, CO criminal defense attorney Lenny Frieling)
