NARCOTICS SHOULD BE LEGALIZED AND TAXED

It is well founded that those who fail to learn from experience are
destined to repeat that experience. This is nowhere better illustrated
than in the current situation with "drugs". In spite of all efforts at
interdiction, drugs flow freely at alllevels of society, and corruption
is rampant in the United States, as well as in many other countries.
Reasonprofit.

In those dear dead days that seem to be forgotten, the "noble
experiment" attempted to forbid the the consumption of alcohol. As a
result, any individual with a little ingenuity could make a decent, if
somewhat risky, living with a home industry. The law was honored more in
its breach than in its observance. All levels of society were corrupted,
as is true today.

Today, we spend billions upon billions of dollars on interdiction. These
billions are utterly wasted. As in the case of tobacco and alcohol, the
only way we are going to deal with the drug problem is to legalize it,
tax it, and use the taxes for remediation and control. Without the
enormous taxfree profit generated, the illicit drug trade will
collapsejust as it did with alcohol. Putting Al Capone in jail did not
stop the trade. Legalization did that.

AUBREY R MCKINNEY