DON'T LEGALIZE DRUGS

The cry for legalization of controlled substances seems to be getting
louder. However, I find the sources to be none other than academics,
wannabe intellectuals and libertarians, few of whom are likely to
have experienced the devastation of drugs in their families or lost a
child to drugs. The rationale is that all the efforts to interdict
drugs have been a dismal failure and have only raised their price,
making trafficking more profitable. That cannot be denied. However,
repealing laws against trafficking is like repealing laws against
murder and robbery because people still murder and rob. And let's
explode the myth of the tax revenues to be derived from legalization.
The revenues realized and a lot more funds would go down the tubes in
the form of lost income tax revenues from all those who become dead,
or become the walking dead, because drugs now are so accessible. And
how about the funds lost to medical and rehab costs? The physical
and mental destruction caused by drugs is too devastating and
immediate to allow legalization. Instead, more federal, state and
local funds earmarked for the "War on Drugs" must be focused on
education for our kids. They must be taught to question what's in
that bag of stuff their peers are handing them. "Victory" in this
"war" will come only for we parents individually by getting through
to our kids - despite their raging hormones - and keeping them clean.

- - Stephen S. Raynor

Wayne