WHAT ABOUT THE SOCIETAL REPERCUSSIONS OF LEGALIZING DRUGS?

There's been a lively discussion in these pages about legalizing drugs.

It started a couple of Sundays ago when columnist Gerald Ensley said his
generation has forsaken its youthful idealism by not legalizing marijuana.
Jim McDonough, the governor's drug-policy adviser, responded with the other
side of that issue and we've had several letters and Zings about pot.

I'm with McDonough. The war on drugs isn't working, but surrender is not an
option. Imprisoning people for the illness of addiction is not the answer
but neither is making it easier for drugs to destroy lives and whole
sections of cities.

But aside from moral or legal issues, nobody ever suggests how society
might handle a newly legal narcotics industry - and that's what it would
be. If you think it stops with marijuana, you might believe that repeal of
National Prohibition just meant beer or that the federal income tax only
skimmed a few bucks off the bankrolls of billionaires.

No, if the government legalized and taxed marijuana, it would get hooked;
state lotteries would be loose change by comparison. And once you accept
the idea of playing with your brain, why not legalize all the toys and
collect more taxes?

They'd need it for the soaring medical and social welfare costs, so they
might tax it enough to show a profit. Wanna bet?

A legal narcotics industry would have money for campaign contributions and
lobbying that would make the pari-mutuels, oil, tobacco and alcohol
lobbyists look like a visiting high school civics class at the state or
national Capitol. Like any business, the narco-industry would want its
regulators weak and its tax burdens light.

And just who would that legal industry be? Presumably, Pfizer won't start a
clean and safe recreational drug sideline but, with so much money to be
made, somebody will meet the demand. Probably the gangs already in the
business would just deal openly - in some cities, make that "more" openly.

The prescriptions you fill at a drugstore are written by a doctor after
examining you and the pills are prepared by a pharmacist. You wouldn't buy
a bottle of aspirin that's been opened, so why should they make it legal
for some guy to sell little baggies of powder on the street corner?

Doctors have malpractice insurance and manufacturers have product liability
coverage. What insurance company is going to underwrite Dope Depot? The
Legislature just passed a sensible law saying you can't sue restaurants for
making you fat, so Congress could immunize pot dealers against liability.

Well, maybe. But it would take a joint session.

What is a safe hit of cocaine, anyway? How does heroin interact with
medicines you're taking, legallly or not? And once you've injected, inhaled
or ingested the legal limit, of course you'll just lie back and enjoy the
high - not try to score some more.

Has that been our experience with alcohol? Chances are, once you've
consumed your legal, taxed dosage, there will be someone ready to sell you
some more - sans taxes - so we can forget about legalization putting the
drug cartels out of business.

The good news is that surveys by McDonough's office indicate marijuana use
has held steady or declined among high school seniors over the past four
years. The bad news is, some of those users are probably the same kids who
were in 12th grade in 2000. But which way do you think the trend line will
go if we legalize it - and is O.K.?

What about advertising? No company will sink millions into a new product
and then just hope you find it. Will there be a hard sell on TV - "We've
moved all our stash to the fairgrounds! Smack, crack, meth, XTC! Everything
must go!" - or maybe they'll use a coy, discrete little spot like the ads
for those male-arousal pills.

Remember that couple lying in their bathtubs on a mountain side at sunrise?
He could be unrolling a little tinfoil packet and she could be handing him
a pipe as their idyll "turns into the right moment."

There's no shortage of pro athletes to endorse some of these drugs and
maybe the cookie companies could go for a commercial tie-in. If they ever
legalize pot, buy chocolate chip and Oreo futures before America gets the
munchies.

There are some legitimate arguments for legalization. The libertarians
think the government shouldn't tell people what to do and a lot of other
people think it's cruel and unusual to lock people up for smoking a joint.

But they haven't thought much about what happens next. Or maybe they
thought it out, but keep forgetting.