MAKE ALCOHOL, TOBACCO ILLEGAL, TOO

I enjoyed reading your article about the war on drugs in Friday's (Feb. 8)
Daily Star. Unfortunately taking any one drug dealer off the street is
about as effective as towing icebergs away from Greenland. New icebergs are
always forming. Many think the main reason people shouldn't take drugs is
because it's against the law. I say we should be bold and change the law. I
propose as of June 1, 2002, all alcohol and tobacco are hereby illegal. A
first offense gets anyone one to three years in jail. Anyone caught with
alcohol or tobacco in their car or home would be subject to the forfeiture
laws. That's right - you would lose your car or home. People would stop
using alcohol and tobacco because it would be against the law. Selling
addictive and harmful drugs is profitable. Just ask the state of New York.

New York State makes an obscene amount of money from alcohol and tobacco
through taxes. How can New York state make money from the misery of its
citizens? How do we gauge our success in the war on drugs? Typically we are
shown a photo in the local paper with a table full of drugs and cash
surrounded by law enforcement. This table full of drugs is just the tip of
those icebergs. It's time we admitted that this war on drugs is a horrible
failure. If we truly believe that the war on drugs is a success, then it's
time to make alcohol and tobacco illegal. Alcohol and tobacco cause more
deaths and destruction than all the other drugs combined. It's time we
changed the law.

Daniel Liddle, Hamden