THE INSANITY BEHIND THE WAR ON DRUGS

Editor, The News:

The decriminalization of marijuana is a no-brainer.

There is no question that the war on drugs has been a total failure
and a total waste of taxpayer money.

We have wasted trillions of dollars trying to enforce a flawed ideal.

We see the end results in the papers and on the news every day -
gangsters shooting each other to get control of the outrageous
profits from illegal drugs.

We are also ruining other country's with our irrational behavior -
see Mexico and Columbia, where the government is afraid to arrest
drug cartel members, even Afghanistan. And we know where those
illegal drug profits go: to fund the terrorists that are killing our soldiers.

These gangsters have more money than the governments that are trying
to run these countries.

The champions of continuing this insanity will tell you that the
policy isn't bad; we just haven't enforced it severely enough.

Well, you only have to look at America to see the folly of that
statement. One of every 100 Americans is behind bars and almost half
are there as a result of drug charges, which gives America the
highest incarceration rate in the world. In fact, you would have to
give them an 'A' for effort on fighting the so-called drug war.

Quite simply, prohibition doesn't work, never has, never will.

Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same
thing over and over and expecting different results.

Wayne Clark

Maple Ridge