Sand: Drug Policy Has High Costs

Robert Sand, Windsor County State’s Attorney, was the after-dinner speaker for the Bethel Area Rotary Club’s March 15 meeting. His message was simple and clear. The nation’s current drug policy of prohibition, enforcement, and punishment "hasn’t worked, doesn’t work, and will not work."

The setting for the Rotary’s weekly dinner, in Bethel’s spare White Church, resembled a Norman Rockwell painting. The audience recited the pledge of allegiance and sang "God Bless America." It was St. Patrick’s Day, and even the corned beef and cabbage dinner catered by Maybelle Dumont was part of the tableau.

After a round of "Happy Dollars" in which members donate a dollar for something that makes them happy ("Here’s a dollar for UVM sending two basketball teams to the NCAA tournament") and good-natured fines, Rotary President Rick Benson introduced the speaker, acknowledging that the subject matter is "controversial" and urging the audience to "keep an open mind."

Sand disarmed the crowd with his opening line: "Please don’t throw food." But he needn’t have worried. No one was about to waste a piece of Maybelle’s gingerbread with whipped cream and green sprinkles.

"How many of you have ever ...?" asked Sand, pausing deliberately to let the audience fill in the expected blank about recreational drug use, "owned stock in a public company?"

In a public company, he explained, there is an expectation of performance, which, if not met, results in management being replaced. The same situation exists in government, he said, and citizens have the same rights as shareholders.

It’s not about advocating or condoning drug use, Sand stressed. People should ask themselves "Are we better off with respect to drugs now than 40 years ago when President Nixon launched the first War on Drugs?" Sand reviewed a number of indicators, ranging from costs of incarceration for offenders to the violence inflicted by "narco-terrorists."

Prohibition has never worked, according to Sand. It failed with alcohol during "the great experiment" and it is failing now.

The current policies create an underground market for drugs, he said. Rather than government and taxpayers benefiting from responsible regulation of substances, the beneficiaries of an underground economy are the criminals who are best organized and most violent. Sand referenced the drug wars that have occurred in Mexico and South America in which the cartels have been better-armed and organized than local law enforcement.

Drug use spawns associated problems that are harmful to society, noted Sand. Many addicts, for example steal to support costly habits.

"It’s not the addiction that is causing the problem, but rather the desperation that accompanies the addiction," Sand said.

Similarly, health care issues are often hidden because they are related to illegal drug use. Sand cited examples in Canada and Portugal, where drugs have been made available on a controlled basis, with no related increase in usage.

"I’m not too worried," said Sand with a twinkle, "that if marijuana was legalized we’d find many in this crowd becoming crazy potheads."

The hypocrisy of the current situation is rampant, he stressed. "Fifty percent of our high school students experiment with marijuana," he said. "It’s time for a different model and it’s time to throw the bums out who are supporting the current, harmful policies."

Change will finally come, said Sand, when more citizens speak out on the subject and when "fiscal conservatives become convinced that different drug policies are in their best interests."

Sand finished by thanking the crowd for not throwing food, but the audience clearly heard his message.

During the question-and-answer period, an audience member pointed out that the Taliban in Afghanistan is funded largely with profits from the U.S. drug trade. "We’re financing our sworn enemies!" a young man said angrily.

Sand simply nodded ... his point exactly.