Ron Paul’s Twinkie defence of Heroin

Ron Paul’s position on legalizing drugs is so far beyond pollyannaish. To equate the use of drugs (and he does not limit himself to just Pot but includes drugs like heroin) to someone drinking soda, eating chips and other “fattening” foods the government Nanny state wants to control is over the border delusional.

The person that uses heroin is not able to function in society. If you can’t function you can’t hold down a job. You can’t hold down a job you have no income to pay for your heroin (illegal now or legal in Ron Paul’s universe). No income you resort to theft to pay for the habit.

Drug use is not the “personal choice” issue that Ron Paul wants to pretend it is by his obfuscating the issue.

A friend of mine who is a Ron Paul supporter defends Paul’s stance with:

So convict them for theft. Let’s stop trying to decide what’s “best” for the little people and return to a government that does what it is supposed to do; protect people’s Life and Property and secure their Liberty. Anything else is just elitist collectivism

Which of course does not address the issue. They do get convicted for theft. But without the addiction there would have been no theft.

That is why Paul’s position is delusional. It’s not the same thing as eating a Twinkie.

Paulista’s shout from the top of their lungs that the sole purpose of Government to to “protect people’s Life and Property and secure their Liberty”.

Drug use ruins lives, damages property and results in loss of liberty. Not just of the Drug user but of Society at large.

No Twinkie ever did that

Of course the Paul supporters respond that

“the federal government has no Constitutional authority to regulate what we choose to ingest.  If it did, ObamaCare would be a breeze to defend.”

While I have no issue with them (and am in agreement) on the Federal/State issue in general in this regard their argument falls apart.  Heroin is not a domestic product.  It had to be imported.  Federal jurisdiction would of course cover the control of the importation of a processed product like Heroin. Federal enforcement in this regard is a text book example of the proper use of the Commerce Clause in Article 1, Section 8. “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations…”

While I “could” see the elimination of “drug” crimes and not prosecuting the drug user there is actually a good reason to prosecute these crimes. As I pointed out above the drug addict will resort to theft, etc in order to feed and supply their drug addiction.  Without the addiction there is no theft.  Therefore, if we can treat the addiction of the addict we can go a long away toward the Government responsibility that the Paul-bots agree on “protect people’s Life and Property”.  Plus, a conviction of theft is far more damaging to the addict’s ability to become a productive member of society once the addiction is under control then is a conviction for drug use.

That’s why there are Drug Courts to work as a diversion.

Where the Fed’s should certainly prosecute with a vengeance are the fiends that import and distribute across state lines these poisons that wreck huge chunks of our economy and lives.

This article about the rise of heroin use in Russia was interesting and directly on point.

Ivanov, who did not say which country Russia had replaced as the top heroin user, estimated that heroine addiction cost Russia 3 percent of its annual gross domestic product, which in 2008 totalled about $1.7 trillion, Reuters reports.

“Our people are dying. Some 90 percent of drug addicts in Russia are on Afghan heroin,” Ivanov said. “This is a threat to national security and to our country’s society.”
In a sign of its concern about Afghanistan, Moscow last month agreed to increase support for resupply shipments for NATO’s operations in Afghanistan across its territory, despite differences with the United States over its war with Georgia last summer, NATO expansion eastwards and missile defence, Reuters reports.
“It is time the world community got serious about the Afghan drug problem,” Reuters quotes Ivanov as saying. Poppy crops should be sprayed with defoliants and farmers offered incentives to cease production.

The Sale of drugs and the use of drugs are not victimless crimes.