3/03/2004
John Stossel Speaks
Let’s look at it in the area of drugs, legal and illegal. Illegal first. I have two teenage kids. Intuitively, again, I am pleased that heroin, cocaine, and ecstasy are illegal; they can’t zip down to the neighborhood pharmacy and go get high. But does that really deter them? It’s not like the drug laws are keeping the stuff out of the country. We can’t even keep it out of prisons. How do we think we’re keeping it out of the country? . . . .
Almost nobody gets high on these drugs and goes out and commits crimes because they’re high. The crime happens because it’s illegal, because the gangs can’t rely on police protection for their private property, so they form gangs and arm themselves. The buyers have to choose to steal to pay the high prices. Nicotine and heroin, according to the government, are roughly equally addictive, yet no one’s knocking over 7-Elevens to get Marlboros. It’s the law that causes all this violent crime.
Almost nobody gets high on these drugs and goes out and commits crimes because they’re high. The crime happens because it’s illegal, because the gangs can’t rely on police protection for their private property, so they form gangs and arm themselves. The buyers have to choose to steal to pay the high prices. Nicotine and heroin, according to the government, are roughly equally addictive, yet no one’s knocking over 7-Elevens to get Marlboros. It’s the law that causes all this violent crime.
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