Pubdate: Fri, 01 Apr 2016
Source: Day, The (New London,CT)
Copyright: 2016 The Day Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.theday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/293
Author: Sanford D'Esopo

MAKING A CASE FOR LEGALIZING DRUGS

In the April Harper's Monthly, author Dan Baum argues convincingly 
for legalizing all drugs.

He reveals that the "War on Drugs" was a sham from the start. The 
late, disgraced John Ehrlichman, Nixon's chief counsel, told him its 
real purpose was to discredit and harass enemies: antiwar hippies 
(marijuana) and blacks (heroin). Nixon's cynical war isn't merely an 
abject failure; it's created violent illegal trafficking, cost 
billions, and destroyed countless lives.

Almost everyone, including new "drug czar" Michael Botticelli, knows 
criminalizing drugs hasn't worked. The only sensible solution is to 
legalize, shifting the billions saved from enforcement and 
incarceration to regulation and treatment. Now-nonexistent taxes 
gained by legalizing could boost overstressed municipal, state and 
federal budgets.

Legalization wouldn't be problem-free. However, countries that have 
legalized, such as Holland and Portugal, haven't seen alarming 
increases in drug use, overdoses, or addiction. One problem: 
enriching violent cartels, could be solved by legalizing only drugs 
grown and processed within the USA and its territories. The new 
industry would create hundreds of thousands of jobs, all of them 
subject to income taxes. Tobacco, alcohol, gambling and even 
prostitution (in Nevada) are legal. Why not drugs?

Sanford (Sandy) D'Esopo Old Lyme
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom