STIMULATE THE ECONOMY - AND FIGHT AL-QAIDA - BY LEGALIZING DRUGS

Part of the solution to America's economic crisis can be found in any
basic history textbook.

Seventy-five years ago this December, our nation's leaders were
sensible enough to realize that we could no longer afford to enforce
the ineffective prohibition of alcohol during the Great Depression
and that we should instead bolster our economy with tax revenue from
legal liquor and beer sales.

Today, we could similarly fill in a big part of the hole in our
economy if we stopped spending so much money locking people up and
instead moved drugs out of the criminal black market and into a
system of legalized and taxed regulation.

But the economy isn't the only reason we should change our drug laws.

As a retired police officer, police chief and member of Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition, I hope policymakers remember how we
put dangerous gangsters like Al Capone out of business when we ended
alcohol prohibition. Today, we can hurt al-Qaida's bottom line by
regulating the drug trade that these terrorists currently make so
much money from. The illegal drug trade is estimated to be $450
billion per year worldwide.

We are arresting 2 million people a year for mostly minor drug
offenses. Our prisons are bursting at the seams, and the prison
industry is perhaps the fastest growing business in the United
States. We repealed a failed prohibition policy once before to help
solve economic and crime problems. We can do it again.

TIM DATIG

Egg Harbor Township