CHANGE DRUG LAWS

Re "The day the beer flowed again," Opinion, April
7

Maureen Ogle writes, "Prohibition spawned an underground economy
devoted to making, shipping and selling booze. ... The poison of such
corruption permeated daily life."

Similar problems have arisen from our current drug laws. While I
disapprove of using marijuana, cocaine and heroin, we must acknowledge
that the lethal South American drug cartels flourish because cocaine
is illegal. Legalize cocaine and tax it, and many serious criminal
problems would evaporate. Even robberies would eventually decline
because those people so inclined would steal less to obtain money for
their supply. Additionally, the billions saved not fighting the war on
drugs could be combined with the taxes from coke and marijuana and
used to secure the border against illegal immigration.

Heroin presents a unique dilemma. Heroin kills. Heroin profits finance
the Taliban. Heroin kills again. Taking the profits out of heroin
smuggling would help us fight the Taliban and perhaps Al Qaeda.

Arch Miller

Arcadia