Pubdate: Mon, 22 Jul 2002
Source: Anniston Star (AL)
Copyright: 2002 Consolidated Publishing
Contact:  http://www.annistonstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/923
Author: Arthur Cole

Speak Out ...

ON CIVIL WARS AND THE DRUG TRADE

Your recent editorial on Colombia fails to ask one key question surrounding 
the violence and turmoil in that nation: Who is responsible for funding and 
arming the FARC? The answer is the United States government. By insisting 
on zero-tolerance prohibition as the only solution to this nation's drug 
problem, we ensure that the illegal drug trade funnels billions of dollars 
a year out of our economy and into the hands of revolutionaries and 
terrorists around the world.

If we were really serious about ending the violence in Colombia, we would 
regulate the illegal drug trade to allow addicts to purchase their 
substance of choice from doctors and pharmacists, rather than pushers. With 
the black market out of business, we not only reduce the number of new 
addicts here in the U.S., we cut the flow of money to the sources of 
instability in South America.

Ending drug prohibition and replacing it with a regulated market is a 
win-win for everyone.

Arthur Cole

Hope Valley, R.I.
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