LEGALIZE DRUGS

Our silly, ineffectual " war on drugs " amounts to shooting house flies with
cannon balls and pretending the holes in the wall don't matter.

Government cannot legislate personal choices. People will take drugs,
gamble, smoke, have abortions, drink, and take same sex partners whether
such choices are legal or not, and there's nothing the government can do
about it.

If the government wants to control drugs, it must make them as legal as
tobacco and liquor. Then it could regulate the purity, eliminating one cause
of death, and package them with a clean needle, eliminating another. Legal
drugs would be as affordable as liquor, removing the need to steal. No drug
peddlers would hang out at school yards. No one's property would be
confiscated on mere suspicion. Cops would have time to look for real
criminals. Marijuana for medical purposes could be obtained without hassle.
Hemp could be put to some of its numerous good uses. The " prison industry"
could be dismantled, and the money used to help people quit drugs.

Congress does not have the guts to legalize drugs. Politicians know the
blather like " war on drugs " gets them votes, and that talk about
legalizing gets pastors swinging their fists shouting " What kind of message
does this send to our children?"

Well, I'll tell you. Any kid who knows the difference between legal and
illegal knows it's only a crazy person who continues to do the same thing
over and over, hoping that next time the results will be different.

Checked-by: Don Beck