WHAT WOULD JEFFERSON DO

We are told that there is an epidemic of drug use in this country.
Certainly this is true - from Aspirin to Prozac, Vallium Viagra,
Alcohol to Nicotine - everyone uses drugs. We use drugs to modify our
state of mind and improve our health. We use them to feel better and
to help us enjoy life. We as a species have been using herbs and
their derivatives since the dawn of history. This is natural. and can
be seen in many other animal species. In this country, certain drugs
are illegal. Many people go to jail for doing what comes natural to
them. Is the answer simply to build more prisons? Obviously not,
because even in prisons there is still abuse of illegal drugs. If we
cannot eliminate drugs from prisons, how can we expect to eliminate
them in an otherwise free society? The real threat from illegal drugs
comes from the criminal culture which has been created by the black
market. It is common knowledge that drugs are more available now than
ever before despite the best efforts of law enforcement. This is
because of the enormous profits to be had and the fact the people will
use drugs regardless of the law. It doesn't matter if you arrest a
drug dealer, because there will always be someone willing to take his
place and make that money.

There is only one solution - legalize drugs. In this way we can
eliminate the profits to be had and so eliminate the black market. We
would be able to have more control over drug use - and some control is
better than no control. We could then tax drugs like we do alcohol
and tobacco and use the money to fund prevention programs. We could
save the money we would have needed for new prisons and use it to
educate people instead of imprison them. We should treat individual
drug abuse as a sickness, not a criminal offense. If this sounds
radical it is only because we have strayed so far from the ideals on
which this country was founded. Our forefathers gave us the ideal of
a right to the pursuit of happiness. Many of them grew and used
plants which are now outlawed. Would we imprison George Washington
because he smoked a joint to ease the pain of having wooden teeth?

Reverend H. W. Skipper
Dallas