MIM Notes 187 June 1 1999

Capitalism's libertarian side coming out 
slightly

by a MIM comrade

California is now famous for legalizing "medical 
marijuana," but some other localities have also 
started to notice the prison-craze and have 
implemented some mainstream half-measures in 
North America.

In Arizona, Prop. 200's enactment has met some 
rave reviews coming up on its mandatory review 
by the state Supreme Court. The title of the 
1996 proposition that somehow passed by over 
two-thirds in Arizona is "Drug Medicalization, 
Prevention and Control Act of 1996." Key to this 
bill is that it prevents incarceration of 
marijuana, heroin and LSD offenders.(1)

Aside from the Maoists and the Quakers, now we 
have Arizona's Prop. 200, the Amnesty 
International's working on the U.$. prison issue 
and magazines like Atlantic Monthly with 
articles admitting imprisonment here is more 
than four times worse than so-called Red 
China's. MIM is happy to be leading a growing 
trend continentally;  we urge the legalization 
forces to keep going and when they are finished 
legalizing drugs also to notice that the United 
$tates will still have far too many people in 
prison per capita.

In mid-April, Canadian executive police chiefs 
of the Association of Canadian Police Chiefs 
reportedly called for decriminalizing "small 
quantities of all illegal narcotics, including 
heroin."(2) Some police chiefs said the cases 
were not worth the hassle in court, because they 
lose too often. Others said the emphasis should 
be on medical treatment anyway. When one 
considers that police supposedly solve murders 
and prevent traffic emergencies, the priorities 
are skewed indeed.

Decriminalization means paying a fine if caught. 
We believe legalizing and then taxing would be 
better than decriminalizing, because it would be 
possible to affect demand for drugs to some 
extent in this fashion under capitalism. Taxes 
are also less liable to be applied in 
discriminatory fashion.

MIM opposes recreational drug use. We urge 
comrades to work full-time for the revolution 
and not be distracted. Drug-use is a symptom of 
alienation, so we blame the system as the 
underlying cause. Under capitalism in particular 
there is no way to have a thoroughly successful 
drug policy.

Under the dictatorship of the proletariat we 
intend to use force to shut down drug 
production. Making profit will be illegal, so 
drug-dealers will not be able to hide behind 
legitimate business facades. Their money will be 
traced and not sanctified and they won't be able 
to spend their money as they are accustomed if 
they do manage to pull off a drug trade. Under 
socialism, the role of the police will be to mop 
up something that will have no motivation behind 
it anymore both at the demand level and the 
trade level.

Currently, a handful of honest pigs are victims 
of capitalism when they die fighting the drug 
trade. That is not to mention the innocent 
people who die in the crossfire and bungled law 
enforcement--many more cases of which have been 
documented in previous MIM Notes issues.

The tiny few cops who are not lazy or corrupted 
by drug lords fight to take out a drug lord only 
to find another drug lord take his place. It 
cannot be any other way under capitalism. Where 
there is big profit there is going to be someone 
supplying the need under capitalism.

Police with the intention of fighting drugs 
should cease being suckers of capitalism. As 
decades of the "war on drugs" should now prove, 
their efforts accomplish nothing--except filling 
prisons and creating a justification for 
fascism. Filling the prisons cuts into the state 
level money left for education and fascist 
interpretations of the Constitution degrade the 
lives of the many.

Medicalization of drug problems is the best 
solution under capitalism, but it too has a cost 
to society. As many medical behavior theorists 
believe, anti-depressants are the solution for 
drug abuse. They see reaching for cocaine as a 
form of "self-treatment." 

Taking legal drugs and medical therapies to stop 
taking illegal ones leads to ignoring the 
underlying social problems that cause drug use. 
It amounts to putting a happy face on an 
oppressive situation. If people learn to be 
happy under oppressive situations, eventually 
our species will learn to be happy extinguishing 
itself. Whether it is war games or movies, we 
are being brainwashed by the profit-hungry to 
have fun in sick ways.

Extensive drug use is a sign that a society's 
organization has run out of steam. It has 
nothing to inspire its people to do. We call 
that phase of a society's existence "decadence."

Notes:

1. Shovel May99, p. 12.

2. Shovel May99, p. 13. Boston-area culture 
magazine "Shovel" points to 
http://www.nationalpost.com as its source.