By James P. Gray
As all sophisticated people know, life is full of distinctions. One of those critical distinctions that we will discuss today is the difference between drug problems, and there certainly are many, as opposed to drug money problems.
There is no doubt that illicit drugs can sometimes be dangerous and addictive and cause harm. Many people’s health and lives have been ruined, and families torn apart emotionally and financially because of the havoc caused by the abuse of and addiction to some illicit drugs. So, without question this can be a big problem.
But there are also big problems that are caused exclusively by drug money. For years we have been hearing and reading about the large-scale violence and corruption that takes place with drug dealers in Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan and many other countries. And certainly the United States has had its share of this violence and corruption as well. But these problems are not caused by the drugs themselves, they are caused by the drug money.
Similarly, it is drug money that is causing drug-addicted people to commit crimes in order to get the money for their drugs. Obviously that includes burglaries, purse-snatchings, check offenses, shopliftings and prostitution.
But now I want to talk to you about another drug money problem that you probably are not aware of. The following scenario would take place in my courtroom about every four or five weeks when I was sitting on a Juvenile Court calendar. There would be, for example, a single mother of two small children who made a bad decision, namely she decided to hook up with the wrong boyfriend. The man would be selling drugs and the mother would generally be aware of it, but that is the way things were.
One fine day, the boyfriend would tell the mother that if she would take a package across town and give it to “Charlie,” he would give her $500 for her efforts. She would basically know the package contained drugs, but she was behind on her rent and the $500 would really help, so she would do it. And then she would be arrested and convicted for the offense of transporting drugs, and sentenced to five years in prison.
But let me ask you a question: when the mother is put in prison, what happens to her children? Well, that answer is easy. The mother has legally abandoned her children since she is not available to take care of them. As a consequence they would all come to me in Juvenile Court on the Abused and Neglected Children calendar.
So, I would have this young mother in my court in a jail jumpsuit and handcuffs and I would tell her the truth, which was that she would not functionally be a part of her children’s lives for the next five years. At that point she would usually become misty-eyed at the realization. Wouldn’t you? But then I would tell her the brutal truth, which is that her children would probably be adopted by somebody else by the time she got out of prison. At that point she would usually break down in tears. Wouldn’t you?
So from my experience and perspective, if we would change our drug laws to hold people accountable for their actions instead of what they put into their bodies, we would begin greatly to reduce the drug money crime. And this could be easily done by undercutting the market for the sale of illicit drugs to adults.
We could start by treating marijuana like alcohol. That would result in the savings of huge amounts of taxpayer money that is presently being spent on efforts to eradicate marijuana and to prosecute non-violent marijuana users.
We should pattern our conduct after most countries in Europe and start to address these problems as managers instead of moralists. This would reduce the crime, violence and corruption brought about by drug money. And then we could re-focus our efforts upon the actual drug problems themselves, like many countries are doing in Europe.
There are viable alternatives to our present failed federal policy of Drug Prohibition.
James P. Gray is a former judge of the Superior Court in Orange County, the author of A Voter’s Handbook: Effective Solutions to America’s Problems (The Forum Press, 2010), and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net, or through his website at www.judgejimgray.com.
