Why Is There a Drug Problem? G. Leef

57 Why Is There a Drug ProbleIn? by George c. Leef M any people in the United States reg• . ularly use "recreational" drugs. But . drug use is not recreation at all. It is a foolish type of escapism. Now, there is nothing necessarily wrong with escapism. We all do it when we read novels or listen to music or go to the movies. Drug use, however, is virtually always harmful to the one who engages in it, and is frequently harmful to others who are victimized by drug users. There is as much agreement as one ever finds in this country with the proposition that we confront a serious drug problem and that we need to do something about it. Most of the discussion about the drug prob lem has been about proposed solutions. But, as is so often the case, most of the "solutions" fail to analyze and deal with the causes of the prob lem. Attempting a solution before you know the causes is usually a waste of time and money, and often makes things worse. So, what I intend to do in this essay is to venture some thoughts on this subject: Why are so many people choos ing to use drugs?

Let us first keep in mind that drug use is an individual matter. It is a misuse of language to say that the United States has a drug problem. "The United States" does not and cannot take drugs. What we should say is that a large num ber of people in the United States use drugs, and that their use leads to serious harm to them selves and often harm to others. We should fo cus on the problem at an individual level and ask: Why do so many people make the stupid and self-destructive decision to take drugs? George c. Leef is Associate Professor ofLaw and Econom ics at Northwood Institute, Midland, Michigan, and adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center. Almost everyone knows that drug use is ex pensive and debilitating-a threat to one's health, job prospects, and family relationships. Perhaps there are a few who begin using drugs in the mistaken belief that it is just a harmless pleasure which they can quit at will, but they must be a very small minority. The typical drug user begins and continues his habit knowing that the long-range consequences of his actions will be decidedly negative.

Now, why would anyone risk losing the chance to live a long, healthy, and happy life in exchange for some immediate pleasure? I can think of two possible answers. First, someone who thinks he has no chance to live such a life, and who faces immediate problems which seem very severe, might think that taking drugs is desirable. Second, someone who is very present-oriented in his decision-making, ignor ing or heavily discounting future consider ations, might be taken in by the blandishments of the drug pusher. What I conclude is that drug use will rise as the number of people who fall into the above two categories (which are not mutually exclusive) rises. Throughout most of our history, drugs have been legal, but use has been minimal. So, why has drug use risen so much in the last two de cades? I submit that the answer, or a major part of it at least, must be that we have more people in the country who are prone to make the deci sion to use drugs. That is, there are more people who are very short-sighted or who view life with despair or indifference.

Why are there more people who fall into these categories? Historically, the United States has been the premier land of hope and oppor tunity. Millions of people have immigrated here 58 THE FREEMAN. FEBRUARY 1989 for that reason. The work ethic has been excep tionally strong here. The vast majority of Amer icans for the last two centuries have accepted the idea that the proper.way to live your life is to work hard, save, and improve yourself so that you and your family may have a more pros perous future. That ethic is missing in any drug user. If we can figure out why the work ethic is in decline, we will have made a big step toward understanding why there is a drug problem in this country. Seeking an Answer I doubt that I know the entire answer, but I believe that I know some parts of it. First, we should look at our system of edu cation. As a professional educator, I see proof every day that our primary and secondary schools are failing to prepare young people for the challenges of a competitive world. The hor ror stories about our educational collapse are true. Many students graduate from high school today with the most feeble reading, writing, and reasoning skills. (The large numbers who drop out are even worse off.) In many schools, stan dards are so low, and the dogma that a student's self-esteem is sacred is so pervasive, that pass ing is virtually automatic. In this pathetic envi ronment, little is taught, little is expected, and little is learned.

One lesson, however, is learned all too well: You don't have to try to get by. Young people who see that there is no penalty for failing to work, to plan, and to exercise personal disci pline will want and expect the rest of life to be that way. That is the mindset of the drug user-short-sighted, indifferent, illogical. A good education does more than just teach specific skills and facts. It also inculcates cer tain habits of mind which make the use of drugs (and many other forms of destructive, anti social behavior) unthinkable. A good education teaches one not only how to use his mind, but also to appreciate it as his primary tool for suc cess in the competition of life. It should come as no surprise that many young people who have an education in name only are attracted to mind less diversions, of which drug use is the most harmful manifestation. Let us also keep in mind that people with little education are ill-equipped to cope with the problems which life inevitably presents. When a well-educated person confronts a problem, he is usually able to use his mind to analyze it, figure out what information he needs, obtain it, and then use it. But the poorly educated person doesn't have those abilities, and is apt to try to escape from his problems rather than to deal rationally with them. That escape, of course, includes turning to drug use.

Furthermore, for the ill-educated, job oppor tunities are very scarce. The high school drop out or the graduate who can hardly read a set of instructions isn't likely to be able to find and hold a job. The absence of discipline, cooper ation, and courtesy, which are also learned as part of a sound education, makes it harder still for the ill-educated to keep a job. Idleness and boredom lure many into drug use. Second, I think that the growing welfare state is also part of the explanation of our drug prob lem. The concept of welfare (now often referred to as the "safety net") says that you'll be taken care of without regard to your actions or lack of actions. Welfare encourages, especially in the poorly educated, a feeling of indifference and irresponsibility. A child who sees one or both of his parents doing little or no work and just barely making ends meet at the government's expense is apt to conclude that life will be the same no matter what you do. And it is people like that who are most prone to the short-lived escape which drugs offer. The huge expansion of the welfare state during the "Great Society"

of the mid-1960s corresponds closely with the onset of the drug problem. Temporal correla tions don't necessarily demonstrate causality, but I am convinced that there is a connection here. Third, I believe that some aspects of our na tion's economic policy are to blame for the rise in drug use. Because of a plethora of laws and regulations, it is very difficult today for a poorly educated person to obtain employment. Sixty years ago, even an illiterate immigrant could get a job rather easily. Of course, his wages would be low at first, and he wouldn't have guaranteed job security or any fringe benefits, but that is exactly why an employer could afford to give him a chance.

Today, the poorly educated run up against minimum wage laws. If their labor isn't worth the minimum wage (plus employer Social Se curity contributions and other government mandated costs), they won't be hired. More over, ' 'anti-discrimination' , statutes raise the possibility that an employer will face a lawsuit if he dismisses a worker. The unhappy worker may charge discrimination even if the employ er's decision was made strictly on merit, and may win if the employer can't persuade the court that he had a good business reason for his action. These laws make it more costly and risky for a ·business to hire people with few skills, and thus opportunities for gainful employment are restricted. The number of people prone to drug use is further increased. In Losing Ground, Charles Murray argues that the "welfare problem" is rooted in socio logical changes which made welfare depen dency easier and more acceptable from the mid 1960s on. The same is true, I maintain, about our current drug problem. The decline of qual ity education, the rising availability of welfare benefits, and rules which militate against the hiring of unskilled people have changed the so cial environment for millions. Where previ 0usly young people almost universally had rea son to hope for a better future and possessed the mental acumen to bring it about, today a tragi cally large number are unable to read, write, and think well enough to take advantage of the limited opportunities open to them. Quite a few of our problems have their roots in this change in the social environment. The drug problem is one of the most serious.

Market Interferences The common thread in these three factors which lead to increased drug use is that they are interferences with the natural order of the free market. Public schools are a non-market phe nomenon, as are the welfare system and restric tions on freedom in the labor market. Nobody wanted these institutions to foster a drug prob lem, but I believe that they have contributed significantly to it. At work here is the law of unintended consequences. Laws which interfere with the free market have negative unintended WHY IS THERE A DRUG PROBLEM? 59 consequences. The laws I have mentioned, rather than making life better for people, have harmed the lives of many. Even if there were no drugs at all, a nation with large numbers of ill-educated, indifferent, and unemployable people would experience se rious problems. If these people didn't tum to drugs, they would surely tum to some other vice. A completely successful war on drugs which is probably impossible no matter what level of effort-would simply lead to other problems we'd have to wage war on.

The drug problem is not the disease itself, but one of the symptoms of a disease. The drug problem will go away when we again have a nation in which no one has any desire to take drugs. The problem lies in the demand for drugs, so that is where we must look for the solution. If my analysis is correct, curing the disease will necessarily include the restoration of a sound educational system. People who are well educated-Dr at least not badly educated-will see the utter irrationality of drug use and abstain from it. Precisely how we can best go about restoring a sound educational system is the topic for many other essays, but I doubt that any significant progress will be made so long as education is publicly financed and run. Solving the drug problem will also necessi tate changing our welfare system so that it doesn't breed indolence and hopelessness. That is much easier said than done. And we will need to open up our labor market so that even those with few skills will have a chance at finding jobs.

I don't know if these changes by themselves are sufficient to eliminate the drug problem, but I am confident that they would reduce it greatly. Without making these changes, it is doubtful that significant progress can be made. People in the free market movement have been advocating privatization of schools, wel fare reform, and repeal of labor market inter ferences for years, and despite impeccable ar guments have made little headway against determined opposition from powerful special interest groups. We may be more successful in overcoming that opposition if we can show how much is at stake-a United States without a serious drug problem. 0 60 "What Do You Want to Be?" by Margaret Bidinotto "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is a question my daughter, Katrina, has heard countless times from adults unsure of how to start a conversation with a six-year-old. Like most children her age, she has a different an swer for each questioner-artist, dancer, teacher, bus driver, actress, mother, store owner-you name it, she's going to be it.