WAR ON DRUGS HASN'T WORKED

The article [on legalization of marijuana] presented is based on
misperceptions of what's happening in Europe. In the Netherlands for
example, the use of marijuana among youth is about half of what it is in the
United States.

The notion that when drug laws are made a "medical problem" and not a
"criminal problem" cause enormous addictions is just not the case. This is
why throughout Europe they are taking the problem out of the criminal
element and dealing with it as a social problem. When it comes to the
economic cost of how to deal with the problem, consider this: The United
States spends $50 Billion on the war on drugs. No other country in the world
comes close to what we spend on enforcement. If we were to spend that money
on prevention and treatment our drug problem would diminish.

We put more people in prison than any other developed nation. We have 25
percent of the world's prison population, while we only have 5% of the
world's population. We currently put more money towards the prison system
than we do education. I myself do not use drugs, including alcohol or
tobacco, and think that it is a "bad choice" but to wage war on people who
do make "bad choices" is insane.

Chad Wasserman, Via Internet