TAKE CONTROL

Re: "Now we see the victims of victimless crimes," Editorial, Jan. 7.
The government for years has called its actions a "war on drugs" so the
public would
feel safe. However, they will never stop the flow of illegal drugs that fund
organized
criminal activities despite throwing millions of dollars a year at what
amounts to a
public relations exercise. For every grow house they close, another four go
up.

If the government can't stop the flow of illegal drugs, why not
control it the way they control liquor sales by legalization? This
would immediately remove a major source of funding for organized
crime, not to mention freeing up of hundreds of millions of dollars
from this so-called "war" to go to far more important areas like
battling crack, cocaine and heroin trafficking. With legalization, the
taxation of such would also add hundreds of millions of dollars to
government coffers.

The lesser of two evils sometimes does make sense.

Paul Alberstat

Calgary