Drug law violations are difficult to detect as they generally involve a voluntary seller and purchaser. Purchasers may be seeking euphoric escape, relief of suffering or to fuel addiction. In order to discover these transactions, government often rely on snitches, informants, and undercover agents in order to ‘catch’ one or more persons engaging in mutually consensual commerce. Mitch Gooldy was such a man. Although he was a frequent flyer in drug court, he arranged to become an informant for government instead of going to jail (or obtaining medical help Shafer Commission thought he should be receiving). This placed him in ideal position to continue (ab)using illicit drugs and is a directly complicit circumstance in his vehicular murder of Ms. Comiskey.

Our current strategy for selective illicit drug use is fault based. If we were to consider instead a public health policy that utilizes harm reduction, reality education, treatment and maintenance programs, we would save billions (Rand study suggests a $7 return on every dollar such invested), allow hundreds of thousands of otherwise peaceful people to be productive citizens and family members, diminish our drain on welfare resources and free our police and courts to deal with more threatening problems. People in such a system are more than twice as likely to be employed and drug free. In such a system Ms. Comiskey might still be alive.

The problem is such a system relies on scientific facts, logic and reason. It diminishes moralists who feel certain drug use is simply wrong, and should be punished. Given current budgetary state of affairs in Indiana and America, we should re-evaluate our current approach if for no other purpose than to save money. The additional benefit would be healthier people, fewer broken homes, more people in work force.