FAILED DRUG WAR BOOSTS TOLL OF SCOURGE

Arizonans have passed legislation to stem the tide of violence in
their state, mostly related to the drug trade.

The Taliban will soon begin its spring assault, using weapons
purchased with profits from the poppy crop.

We are enablers of those events with our insistence that we can ban
detrimental substances, despite overwhelming evidence that our efforts
are in vain.

We should abandon the "drug war" and instead win the Arizona border
war and defeat the Taliban.

The drug marketplace cannot be stopped, but drugs can be made
prescription items and sold at reasonable prices.

Drug users can be placed in the care of health providers, work
effectively at a job and maintain their drug habit. They can be helped
to rid themselves of the habit. Most importantly, their behavior can
be directed.

The drug business would then be a low-profit venture. There would be
far less need for the addict to acquire large amounts of money, so the
toll on innocent noncombatants would end.

The poppy farmers, discouraged by the poor return on their labor,
would find some other crop, the Taliban money tree would be cut down
and the Mexican drug lords would find some more lucrative mischief.

William F. Condon

Killingworth