On Monday, United States Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), officially won his battle against the now-infamous synthetic drug bath salts — the substance that supposedly caused Rudy Eugene to eat a man’s face on a causeway in Miami back in May.
Well, that’s the story everyone believed until a toxicology report revealed that the only drug in Eugene’s system was marijuana, which hasn’t been associated with violent activity since the debunked propaganda film “Reefer Madness.”
Still, the toxicology report didn’t stop Congress from passing a bill on June 27 banning bath salts nationwide, the same day the report was released. It also didn’t give pause to President Barack Obama, who signed this bill Monday.
Who’s against banning harmful substances, right? Drug prohibition always keeps it off the streets and out of the hand of criminals.
But the hysteria surrounding bath salts after the cannibalistic attack in Miami did not spur the push for this legislation. In fact, Schumer, who is known as a bit of a control freak for banning things like the alcoholic energy drink Four Loko, has been trying to push this legislation since January 2011.
However, the incident in Miami and the subsequent bath salt mania promoted by the police and local media helped the senator push through his ill-conceived legislation.
The sheer irresponsibility of the police and the local media outlets that caused this hysteria deserves serious ridicule.
The toxicology report indicates that police had absolutely no evidence to suspect that Eugene was using bath salts during his attack. When the local media reported these unfounded police suspicions, it gave bath salts and other synthetic substances the national attention needed to add more useless layers to federal drug policy.
In fact, a quick look at Eugene’s record shows a severe history of violent behavior, a more likely explanation for his actions.
In 2004, a 22-year-old Eugene was arrested after threatening and attacking his mother. According to what Eugene’s mother told police, he threatened her by saying, “I’ll put a gun to your head and kill you.”
This incident was not Eugene’s only arrest (he was also arrested in 2008 for possession of marijuana), but it clearly shows that his violent streak did not begin on the causeway in Miami.
The incident involving Rudy Eugene reveals two very important truths.
First, it shows that unfounded hysteria can have serious consequences for public policy, especially when it comes to drug-like substances.
Second, the fact that a violent, perhaps mentally ill person like Eugene was involved in the black-market sale of marijuana shows the errors of federal drug prohibition.
Instead of providing protection, prohibition puts popular drugs in the hands of violent people.
