A DRUG-FREE WORLD IS NOT AN ATTAINABLE GOAL

The United Nations views a drug-free world as an attainable goal, but
such a goal is about as attainable as an alcohol-free world. Alcohol
prohibition in the United States ended in 1933 when this country
realized that the only people benefiting from Prohibition were
bootleggers and gangsters. Since that time, the emphasis has been on
reducing the harm of alcohol by promoting responsible drinking,
designating drivers and programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous. The
same types of programs could be applied to legal drug use. It would
be naive to propose that legalizing drugs would eliminate all the
drug problems, any more than doing away with Prohibition solved the
problems of excessive drinking. These are human problems that exist
with or without laws and require societal intervention. The failed
war on drugs costs this country an estimated $50 billion yearly.
Saving this money by legalizing drugs and adding tens of millions of
annual tax revenues from the sale of legalized drugs would provide
funds for reducing drug-related disease and addiction. All Americans
would benefit, except the criminals who now profit from the present system.

Ray Raino

Carlsbad