LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS, NOT SUBSIDIZE THEM

Down In The Trenches In A War That Can't Be Won (3 Of 4)

I traveled to Vancouver recently for the first time, and happened
upon East Hastings Street. I've lived in New York for more than 20
years through rough times such as the crack epidemic of the early
1990s, but that left me unprepared for what I saw. Human zombies were
wandering everywhere in the middle of the day. People inhaled crack
from a sidewalk "hookah" that looked like an octopus. It was a mecca
of self-imposed human misery, and it was paid for by Canadian taxpayers.

I am completely for legalization of all drugs. If people want to
destroy themselves, that is their right. But the alternative to
banning drugs is not to subsidize them. That is the statist solution.
Lost in this false alternative is individual liberty, where people
are simply left alone to live their own lives, productively or not,
as they see fit. Reality is punishment enough for drug addicts. Only
a minority of people will choose that way of life because it is so
self-destructive; their numbers are further reduced through early
death. Subsidize that? It's insane.

Raymond C. Niles

New York