RECALLING HISTORY

The quote from the Global Commission on Drug Policy states the
obvious solution quite well, i.e., that governments must end the
criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use
drugs but who do no harm to others.

There was no way to fight a successful war on drugs, just as there
was no way the constitutional amendment on prohibition of alcohol
could be successful.

Now is the time for the U.S. to decriminalize drugs, just as we
decriminalized alcohol in 1933 through repeal of Prohibition.

It is somewhat odd that Congress felt empowered to criminalize
selected drugs, but it took a constitutional amendment to criminalize
alcohol. One wonders if that mind-set would also try to control or
criminalize other harmful substances such as tobacco or high-sugar soft drinks.

How far do such elements in our government and society think they can
go in "protecting" us from ourselves and still be consistent with the
individual freedoms ensured by our Constitution?

Dick Russell, Houston