EDUCATION BEST SOLUTION TO CERTAIN CRIMES

Columnist Marshal Frank had it right when he wrote in the Smoky Mountain
News that our prisons cost taxpayers far too much to support.

We need to use them to lock up murderers, robbers and rapists, not to hold
and support people who behave in ways we disapprove of, such as users of
pot and various other drugs and also prostitution and gambling.
"Misbehavior crime" is better dealt with through education. Locking people
up in a cell means we support them and often their families as well. These
locked up people no longer work and pay taxes.

They instead drain tax money from us all. If it makes sense to imprison
people for doing things we disapprove of, why not imprison them for smoking
or imbibing alcoholic beverages? Even for overeating and becoming obese -
this costs taxpayers more for providing health care to people who cannot
pay for it themselves. America has the largest percentage of citizens
locked up in prisons of all developed countries around the world. The "drug
war" has turned into a war against us all. The illegal drug trade supports
the various terrorist groups operating around the globe. Give me a break.

Joe Switzer,

Franklin