Pubdate: Sat, 28 Jul 2007
Source: Leader, The (Jacksonville, AR)
Copyright: 2007 Leader Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.arkansasleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4541
Author: Kirk Muse

WE'VE LOST THE WAR ON DRUGS

I'm writing about Heather Hartsell's outstanding story: "Ex-police 
officer says war on drugs not working" (7-23-07).

The war on drugs was lost before it began.

No matter how much money we throw down the drug war rat hole, we will 
never be able to nullify the immutable law of supply and demand.

As long as people want recreational drugs and are willing to pay a 
substantial price for them, somebody will produce these drugs and 
somebody will get them to the willing buyers.

This we can guarantee.

If we re-legalized all our illegal drugs so that they can be sold by 
licensed and regulated businesses for pennies per dose, would this 
eliminate our drug problems? No.

However, doing so would dramatically reduce our crime rate and 
dramatically increase public safety.

Will we ever be able to eliminate our drug problems? No.

However, we can substantially reduce the harm caused by our illegal drugs.

Regulated and controlled drugs would be of known purity, known 
potency and known quality - which would make them very much safer 
than today's black-market drugs.

But what message would we send to children if we legalized all 
illegal drugs so they could be sold in licensed, regulated and taxed 
business establishments?

The same message we send to children today when we allow products 
such as alcohol and tobacco to be sold in licensed, regulated and 
taxed business establishments.

A free country's government cannot protect its adult citizens from 
themselves.  A free country's government has no right to attempt to do so.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom