LEGALIZE AND TAX DRUGS

It was interesting that Sunday's paper had articles on both the
history of the war on drugs and Prohibition, both of which are and
were massive failures, as shown in the articles.

We have wasted billions of dollars, and untold thousands of lives, in
the 40-plus years of the war on drugs, and it has not worked.

My modest proposal is that we simply legalize all drugs, impose heavy
taxes on them, and devote our new revenue to drug treatment programs
and education. The illegal trade in drugs would simply become
profitless. This could immediately affect everything from poppy
farming in Afghanistan to cartel murders in Mexico.

We are comfortable with legal alcohol, which is far deadlier and more
ruinous to lives and families than any of the street drugs.

Legalization would also have a huge positive impact on the problem of
mass incarceration, which has a lifelong impact on those convicted of
drug felonies. We have millions of people jailed for drug offenses,
costing us billions, not to mention the human and social cost of being
a prison nation.

Bruce L. Marsh, Ruskin