END THE WAR

On Dec. 28 The Bee reported that alcohol consumption has dropped
precipitously over the past 10 years. This is further testament to the
failure of drug prohibition as a policy.

Drug use is at about the same level as it was 10 years ago, perhaps even
higher. The only people who have stopped using are the responsible,
law-abiding type who were never a threat to begin with.

Yet alcohol use, despite being legal, widely available and generally
socially acceptable has gone down. It is likely that had drug use been
legal during that time, a similar decline would have occurred. Yet, like
most government policies, prohibition has achieved the opposite of what it
intended.

We are fast approaching the day when those with the courage to speak the
truth will be in the majority. Every day, more people get up the courage to
say, "The emperor wears no clothes."

End drug prohibition. Let drug taxes pay for drug treatment, and let the
police, courts and prisons concentrate their resources on real crimes. The
result will be peace, prosperity and, in the long run, less drug consumption.

Jonathan Richter, Chair Libertarian Party of Fresno County