My Right to Live with No Drugs

By Jeffrey Folks

This week, Rob and Michele Reiner were found murdered, and their son Nick has reportedly been arrested on murder charges in connection with the killings.  Nick Reiner is a screenwriter who is said to have had a long history of drug addiction.

Regardless of who is ultimately convicted, this is a horrific crime — but, it turns out, not that unusual in that the person charged is said to be a drug addict.  A large percentage of serious crimes in America can be linked to addiction.

I believe I have a right to live in a country with no illegal drugs.  That right of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is written into our nation’s founding documents.  And government has the obligation to protect those rights by all appropriate means, including the interdiction of drugs coming to this country and the punishment of drug-suppliers and users.

In fact, one third of all major crime in the U.S. is drug related.  This includes murders, home invasions, carjackings, robberies, theft, and assault.  One NIH-sponsored study found that 85% of prisoners were drug addicts or alcoholics at the time of their arrest, while a separate study showed that 60% of all federal prisoners were serving for drug-related offenses.

In addition, a large number of traffic accidents are caused by drivers under the influence of illegal drugs.  In one recent year, nearly 14 million Americans drove under the influence of drugs.  Different drugs, including marijuana, cause different symptoms while driving, from drowsiness to slowed reaction times to  weaving to aggressive driving.  In 2016, almost 44% of drivers killed in crashes tested positive for drugs.

Drug-related crime in this country threatens my life directly, since a large percentage of murders are drug-related.  Drug addicts will stop at nothing to raise money to support their habit, and this includes murder, even for a few dollars.  Obviously, this drug-related crime also threatens my liberty.  There are sections of every American city where it is not safe to enter, and even in the safer areas, there is a chance of crime.  Indeed, citizens in affluent areas are targeted by thieves seeking money to support their addictions.

Not least of all, the lives of drug addicts themselves, some 20 million Americans, are put at risk.  One can debate the matter of “blame” or insist that addiction is an “illness,” but the fact remains that once one has become addicted, there is little hope of an easy cure.  Addicts live out their lives with the single goal of supporting their addiction, and they are the prey of their traffickers.  One example is the songwriter Townes Van Zandt, who came from a prominent Texas household and who earned substantial royalties from songs like “If I Needed You” and “Pancho and Lefty,” but who died penniless at age 53 after having sold his entire book of songs in exchange for a quick fix.  This kind of misery is repeated millions of times each year but might be prevented or lessened with stricter drug enforcement.

As for my pursuit of happiness, that right is hindered by the fact that I must live amid a population of addicts carrying guns and threatening me even in my own home.  In one horrific incident, two of my neighbors returned to their home and found thieves inside.  Both my neighbor and his wife were murdered by this group of thieves, who probably realized no more than a few hundred dollars from the theft.  Statistically, there is a good chance that the thieves were addicts.

My pursuit of happiness is diminished in other ways as well.  A portion of my tax payments goes toward fighting drug-related crime.  Those who work at retail businesses live with the constant threat of robbery and violence, and even when I visit the local grocery, I must watch my back.  I, personally, have been the victim of a home break-in and robbery, and I was forced to purchase an expensive home security system afterward in order to feel safe.  Going out at night is especially dangerous.  In all of these ways, my “pursuit of happiness” is undermined.

My rights are also undercut by the costs of living in a country made less productive by drug-users who may not work and who prey on the rest of us.  Much of the cost of policing involves illegal drug use, with the federal government alone spending some $25 billion on drug control.  Much of our welfare, including aid to dependent children and health care for a dependent population, is paid to families with no father to support them, or a father who is often involved in using or selling drugs.  Again, the burden falls on law-abiding citizens.  Also, the expense of drug rehab programs (which may not be particularly effective, with relapse rates of 40% to 60% in the first year alone) falls on the taxpayer.  Society is less productive and taxpayer costs are greater as a result of illegal drug use.  One study shows that drug-related crime costs the U.S. economy $193 billion annually.

President Trump is attempting to cut the supply of drugs entering the U.S.  He has largely closed the southern border, which was the main corridor of drugs entering the country, and now he is blocking drugs coming from Venezuela and Colombia.  These actions are common sense and should be applauded by everyone, but we must go farther.

Few countries have been as successful at eliminating illegal drugs as has Singapore, and it has done so by imposing capital punishment, or at least the threat of capital punishment — not just on those selling drugs, but on users as well.  If such laws were passed and enforced in this country, there would likely be a dramatic reduction in the use of illegal drugs.  At the beginning, a certain number of users would face the death sentence, but literally hundreds of millions of Americans would have their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness restored.  Only by eliminating the demand will we be successful in ending the use of illegal drugs.

I have made this argument at academic conferences and found almost no support for use of the Singapore plan in this country.  It seems that our nation’s leaders, especially in academe and in the media, would rather accept the diseased condition we are in than impose serious solutions.  Liberals even object to the president’s blockage of drugs from Latin America.  A full-scale elimination of illegal drugs would be met with much greater opposition, but it is the only way to restore our rights and freedom.

I have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but this right has been undermined by the drug problem in this country.  In the late 1990s and early 2000s I spent several weeks in Singapore and experienced the sense of freedom that comes with a safe, secure environment.  I rode the metro and walked in every part of the city with no fear.  The same could be true in the U.S. if we had the determination to eliminate illegal drugs. 

Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture, most recently Heartland of the Imagination (2011).

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/12/my_right_to_live_with_no_drugs.html