STOP THE BLEEDING

Does the public realize that we are actually financing the Taliban
in Afghanistan? Where do we think they get the money to buy weapons?
It's from us.

Our country spends billions of dollars on illegal heroin, and guess
where most of the heroin comes from - the poppy fields of Afghanistan.

Why do we not just destroy the poppy fields? Because that would
destroy the Afghan economy. How about instead of fighting a war
there, we just destroy the poppies and give the Afghan farmers the
money to grow useful crops.

Or better yet, we could stop billions of dollars leaving the country
by legalizing recreational drugs. That would kill the heroin trade,
and it would bankrupt the Mexican drug cartels.

I can hear the conservative right and especially the religious
right, gasping at the thought, but be realistic. The young people
who want to use drugs can get them anywhere they want, with no
problem. The young people who don't use drugs now wouldn't just all
of a sudden decide, wow, now I can become an addict. Think about it.

John O'Brien

Walnut Creek