Unintended Consequences of the War on Drugs
By Randall Holcombe • Friday November 5, 2010 1:20 PM PDT • 15 Comments
This week in my local newspaper, Florida’s Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp wrote an op-ed reporting that a drug known as “Spice” is becoming “... a nightmare for law enforcement, because it is sold and used openly as a so-called legal alternative to marijuana. Currently, there is no way to test for the use of Spice — making it that much more attractive to would-be users.”
Kottkamp reports, “Spice is, in fact, more potent and more dangerous than marijuana.”
I am very out-of-touch with the drug scene, so maybe unsurprisingly, this was the first I’d heard of Spice. I do have a son who is a senior in high school, so I figured I could ask him and get some information about Spice, but he claimed he’d never heard of it either. Could be he’s a Spice-head trying to hide his habit, but (parents can be so naive) I think he was telling me the truth.
If any readers know anything about Spice, feel free to speak up and inform the rest of us! (When I Google “spice drug” some information does pop up.)
Kottkamp goes on to say, “Just two weeks ago, I was speaking with our community anti-drug organizations gathered at the annual drug prevention conference, and they asked for help to stop this new drug from infiltrating their neighborhoods.”
I can give Kottkamp a sure-fire way to stop Spice in its tracks: Legalize marijuana. Kottkamp claims Spice is more dangerous than marijuana, so surely this would be a step in the right direction.
The issue here is not about Spice; it is about alternatives to marijuana. Making Spice illegal would simply open the door for drug entrepreneurs to develop other recreational drugs that are “more potent and more dangerous than marijuana.”
We’ve been fighting a war on drugs for 30 years, and the drugs are winning. There is ample evidence that the harm from illegal drugs comes more from the fact that they are illegal than that they are drugs.
I am no advocate of recreational drug use. Following Nancy Reagan, if someone offers you some, my advice would be to “Just Say No!” But there are two strong arguments in favor of legalization. One is that this used to be a free country, and freedom has to mean the freedom to make what people in the government think are bad choices. Another more utilitarian argument is that the harm from their illegality is greater than the harm from the drug use itself.
Tags: Civil Liberties, Criminal Justice, Culture, Drugs, Law, Morality, Nanny State, Personal Liberty, Politics, The State 
Never used it myself, but I know it is somewhat popular here in the military, as they cannot test for it. I’ve seen the expected propaganda from the DoD as well as the media, but as far as the soldiers that I know that use it, I can’t point to any negative circumstances that it has caused other than people getting busted and discharged.
Stev | Nov 5, 2010 | Reply
Spice refers to a variety of different herbal product mixtures (that may also include added chemicals). These products have appeared in Europe, Japan, and the USA. The herbal products supposedly contain chemicals that act like cannabinoids. One chemical found in multiple Spice mixes is cannabicyclohexanol. So far, no studies have been published on whether cannabicyclohexanol and the other Spice chemicals actually cause cannabinoid-like effects. Based on their chemical structures, my guess is that they have minimal cannabinoid effects, and that users who get “high” probably are experiencing a placebo effect.
Dr. T | Nov 5, 2010 | Reply
The article’s author is a Liberal dips***. But I repeat myself. The drugs are not winning. It impossible for inanimate objects to win or lose at anything, it is impossible for them to be good or evil. This article is trash. The problem is that evil people exist in this world. Without those evil people there would be no drug war. Making drugs illegal does not harm society in any way. We have not been fighting an actual war on drugs. We have been fighting a war on evil people. And the evil people are winning. Wake up Liberals. In reality evil people do exist. And you Liberals support them by buying your marijuana and other drugs
Zeus_Is_God | Nov 5, 2010 | Reply
>Kottkamp reports, “Spice is, in fact, more potent and more dangerous than marijuana.”
It isn’t more potent, and it isn’t known if it’s more dangerous – but it wouldn’t surprise me, since nearly everything is (OTOH, spice is legal and therefore theoretically subject to some level of quality control in a way that prohibition cannabis is not.)
>We’ve been fighting a war on drugs for 30 years, and the drugs are winning.
“We” haven’t been fighting a war on drugs. The state’s domestic standing army has been fighting a war on recreational drug users. Its operational purpose is to fill prisons and justify innumerable budgets, and by that measure it has been a success, not a failure. Might you not adopt the rhetorical position that this system is somehow “us?”
>There is ample evidence that the harm from illegal drugs comes more from the fact that they are illegal than that they are drugs.
In the case of cannabis, it isn’t disputable.
Ghost of James Caan | Nov 5, 2010 | Reply
“Making drugs illegal does not harm society in any way.”
I’d like some of what you’re smoking :) .
Seriously, though, evil people do exist. They want to make other people’s choices for them and back it up with violence.
Shed Plant | Nov 6, 2010 | Reply
Yup, evil people do exist. They want to make other people’s choices for them and back it up with deadly violence, as if they were gods themselves. How could they be any more rotten?
clark | Nov 6, 2010 | Reply
I bet you can’t guess how lawmakers in central Indiana have responded to the growth of spice.
This article actually provides a little background for you Randall.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201010070319
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201010070354
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201010070414
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201010100369
Some members of the Statehouse have expressed their intention to have a statewide ban but I could not find a link to those stories.
Hoosier Howie | Nov 7, 2010 | Reply
Drugs aren’t illegal because they’re dangerous; they’re dangerous because they’re illegal. And since marijuana has never, ever, killed a human being, saying that something is “more dangerous than marijuana” means absolutely nothing. (Christmas trees, for example, are more dangerous than marijuana.) But prohibition never was about protecting people from drugs. Prohibition is, and always has been, a tool of oppression. And the guys with the guns make no bones about why they’re at your house. they’re there to destroy your life. Because they can.
Rita | Nov 7, 2010 | Reply
So what you’re saying is that there is nothing wrong with the use of drugs, per-se, and that their criminalization is merely a clever government plot to bring “evil people” to the surface so that they might be more expeditiously dealt with? Super plan, I must say, but it would have made better sense to leave alcohol prohibited as well, that really ramped up the war on evil people.
Just out of curiosity, what would you say is more evil: the voluntary exchange and subsequent use of a mind altering substances, or kidnapping peaceful people and locking them in confined spaces with rapists and murderers?
Pat | Nov 7, 2010 | Reply
Do I smell Poe’s Law here?
Armed and Hammered | Nov 7, 2010 | Reply
@Zeus – drugs are not winning the drug war, economics are. Markets are.
The reason the evil people are profiting is BECAUSE of the drug war. It creates a protected market, driving up prices, and protecting profits. Drug kingpins LOVE the drug war.
The Drug War is an accessory to this evil.
And how can you call someone evil for growing a plant in their living room and smoking it? Where is the evil? Who are they harming, other than themselves?
Sasha | Nov 7, 2010 | Reply
“Without those evil people there would be no drug war.”
Without evil people doing evil there would be no need for government.
Yet not nearly all evil is criminalized. Some formerly criminalized behavior is now funded by the government (by threatening to shoot people down if they don’t want to “contribute”).
Mac | Nov 9, 2010 | Reply
Zeus....are you even for real? 1st of all, look up the difference between liberal and libertarian. Everyone else’s responses pretty much take apart the rest of your argument. Not even worth responding to really...
I smoked K2 in Virginia (was not criminalized at the time) which I’m guessing is closely related or maybe even the same as “spice.” Yes it has very similar effects to marijuana, defiitely NOT placebo effects :) and actually I did not notice some of the negative side effects either (i.e. paranoia). It has been criminalized in many states as of now...ridiculous.
Big C | Nov 10, 2010 | Reply
Oddly enough, I happened to stop by a local smoke shop a couple weeks ago and asked the proprietor about Spice. He said it was a mixture of herbs which were supposed to replicate the effects of cannabis, but that it really didn’t do anything (he even advised against buying it!). There are a couple of other products out there that are similar, such as K-2, I believe, which are legal.
Of course, one can always saunter down to the local liquor store and buy liquids which are far more potent and far more dangerous.
Kottkamp reports, “Spice is, in fact, more potent and more dangerous than marijuana.”
This seems to be a standard speech which is mouthed by politicians whenever some new drug comes on the market. They are so concerned about our youth that they want to criminalize an entire generation. Sheesh.
I wonder what Frank Herbert would think of all this?
Burke101 | Nov 13, 2010 | Reply