Shame on U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.
By suggesting this week that legalizing drugs might reduce crime and by calling for a study for such a drastic step, she has breathed new life into the debate over this thoroughly discredited quack nostrum.But since the Clinton administration quickly distanced itself from Elders' lamentable lapse in judgment, there's no point in demanding that she be sent to the woodshed as some members of Congress are insisting.
Instead, send her to the nearest library and demand that she bone up on the history of previous experiments with legalizing dangerous drugs. Such experiments show the move is sheer folly.
That has certainly been the experience in Italy, where legalization of drugs has produced an enormous population of addicts and a very high rate of AIDS.
It was also the experience in the United States when this country foolishly experimented with free cocaine use in the 1880's and legalized heroin clinics from 1912 to 1925.
One result was that levels of corruption were so high and the distribution of heroin to new users was so great that it made the heroin problem worse, not better.
Another result was that damage to cocaine users was so great that it produced a public backlash that led to the imposition of legal curbs on cocaine. Those curbs, in turn, led to a sharp reduction in cocaine use.
Sadly, the American experience also shows how quickly the public forgets about the folly of legalizing harmful drugs. But where memory fails, reason should take over.
It stands to reason that legalization of harmful drugs would involve the imposition of a tremendous network of regulations and bureaucracy. And there is always money to be made by breaking regulations. Consequently, drug dealers would not necessarily go out of business but would simply shift gears - trying to undersell the government or its authorized dealers and making more attractive offers to lure new customers.
It also stands to reason that the use of drugs, even if legalized, still would harm the human body, decrease the sensitivity of the human spirit, and increase criminal behavior.
No wonder that U.S. polls show support for legalizing the use of marijuana has dropped to the point where only 16 percent of the public favors it. Legalization of more powerful drugs wins even less support.
By opening a new round in the debate over possible legalization of drugs, Elders has demonstrated her well-known penchant for not shying away from controversy and for speaking bluntly. Unhappily, she has also demonstrated that candor does not automatically go hand-in-hand with common sense.