Your dollars at work against you.

Not surprisingly, many activists and civil libertarians object when the government spends tax dollars to influence legislation. The creation of law is the will of the people expressed through their elected representatives. It isn’t up to bureaucrats to use public funds to influence the process, only to then make a nice living executing it.

But law enforcement does spend taxpayer dollars to influence legislation. Under the guise of "education," law enforcement frequently works against decriminalization of drugs, even the medicalization of cannabis.

Why? The reason is simple. Though research, and our own experience, have demonstrated that law enforcement efforts only modestly, locally, and temporarily decrease drug related crime, what the evidence does show is that the war on drugs has dramatically increased the funding and authority of law enforcement. Keeping drugs illegal is good for the business of law enforcement.

Our drug policy should be made in public, with elected officials making decisions based on science, on information from doctors and chemists, and free input from citizens.

The Prospect objects to public tax dollars spent by bureaucrats to benefit themselves. It’s a rip off of our money, a corruption of the process of law, and embarrassingly blatant self-service.