On "Drugs"

     What a peculiar title for this post! No I'm not on drugs, rather I am commenting on the essay "Drugs" written by Gore Vidal in 1970.
     In regard to Vidal's statement that drugs should be legalized because "each man has the right to do what he wants with his own life...as long as he doesn't interfere with his neighbor's pursuit of happiness", I agree with the statement but with this added corollary: as the preamble of the U.S. Constitution states, one of the purposes of the union we have formed is to "promote the general welfare" therefore I would add a corollary as follows: "each man has the right to do what he wants with his own life...as long as he doesn't interfere with his neighbor's pursuit of happiness" AND as long as he is aware of the risks associated with his actions. I believe one of the functions of government is to enlighten our citizens so they can make better decisions and this certainly aplies to the case of legalizing drugs.
     Now, Within this statement there is an assumption that drug users with legal, readily available, drugs are not going to interfere with their "neighbor's pursuit of happiness." A study by the Bureau of Justice indicates that over half of violent crimes by state prison inmates were committed while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. While this study is out of date, it is no secret that for years we have been drawing connections between drugs and violence. Violence certainly interferes with a "neighbor's pusuit of happiness" or even promoting the general welfare and establishing domestic tranquility. It's tough to tell if it would help if drugs were completely legalized. For example alcohol and cigarettes are legal and plenty of crimes and deaths occur from people under the influence of alcohol. Here in the Napa Valley we have a monthly DUI list in a couple of our papers that is full of names. We are lucky there are not more deaths.
     Research from the University of Berkeley indicates that legalizing drugs   or enforcing the strict regulations we currently have are not solutions. Rather the solution can be seen as somewhere in the middle. When looking at history and compromise, it makes sense that the answer to our drug problem lies in the middle and the university cites many countries with policies in the middle as prime examples.
     Whatever the case something must change. The US has the largest prison population total and the highest per capita. Many of these inmates are in for drug-related crimes including the abomination of justice occuring with Clarence Aaron. Let us look to the middle for our solution.