DRUGS SHOULD BE LEGAL, REGULATED AND TAXED

To the Editor:

How can we win the drug war when we are financing both sides? We spend
billions and imprison a larger portion of our population for
nonviolent crimes than any first world country and many Third World
countries. It must be obvious that people want illegal drugs. During
the era of prohibition it was proven that people wanted alcohol. The
answer now, as it was then, is regulation, taxation and treatment for
those who need it.

Jimmy Carter said years ago that the legal consequences for using
drugs should not be worse than the effects of the drugs themselves. It
is time for harm reduction and a saner drug policy. It should be
remembered that all illegal drugs kill fewer people than second-hand
tobacco smoke and that no deaths have ever been attributed to marijuana.

Robert Gregg

Marshville, NC