No punchlines found in Block columns
Mike Perlstein
Issue date: 2/2/07 Section: Editorial
- Page 1 of 2 next >
|
Then Professor Walter Block followed up his Jan. 19 missive with a second straight-faced column advocating the legalization of drugs in New Orleans. He didn't merely propose a defensible step toward moderation like decriminalizing marijuana, but a full, immediate repeal of all drugs laws. In Block's vision, "Red Rum Heroin" and "80 Proof Andean Cocaine" would occupy pharmacy shelves somewhere between Advil and Red Bull. He's even wearing a respectable jacket and tie in his "On The Record" photoI.
If this is a serious proposal by a distinguished scholar, I thought, perhaps I should weigh in with a reasoned rebuttal based on my 20 years as a journalist on the criminal justice beat.
What carefully nuanced point should I begin with? How about: First, legalization of drugs in New Orleans is easily the worst idea at the worst possible time in the worst possible place in the history of modern jurisprudence. What the flood didn't destroy would surely be washed away under Block's tidal wave of "legalized" narcotics.
Block argues that legalization of drugs here would somehow curb the city's staggering murder rate. This suggestion is naive on too many levels to address in a short column. But let's point out some of the obvious problems.
1. Block doesn't believe the population of drug abusers would increase. Well, unless you're planning to pack New Orleans into a large rocket and reestablish the city on the moon, the city would become an overnight haven for untold thousands of drug desperadoes from wherever drugs are illegal, namely, most of the world. At a time when the city urgently needs to repopulate - and reverse the brain drain of doctors, engineers, academics and business people - Block wants to send out an open invitation to the most unstable, unhealthy and criminally inclined segment of the population.
2. Drugs cost money, whether they're purchased from Smoky Joe on the corner or White-Coat Wally the Walgreen's pharmacist. A first-year criminology student can tell you that most burglars and robbers are stealing to feed a drug habit. Does anybody think the bad guys are taking loot to maximize their Roth IRA? In Block's legal drug nightmare, he would effectively declare open season on all law-abiding citizens and their possessions at a time when the overwhelmed New Orleans police department can't keep up with stray shoplifters.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Carol Rooney B.S. Loyola 1985
posted 2/02/07 @ 1:52 PM MST
I had no idea of how to begin to respond to this article which, I thought, was completely erroneous. So, thank you for your eloquent response.
My only comment would this: If we de-criminalize everything, we could tout New Orleans as the city with the lowest crime rate. (Continued…)
I. Withdraw My Consent
posted 2/18/07 @ 1:25 AM MST
Mr. Perlstein neglects to address the most important problem with drug "legalization" and that is the question of how the government acquired the right to "criminalize" drugs. (Continued…)
Post a Comment