Letter to the Editor:

Stop the ineffective spending on drug war

Alan Wollman, Henderson

Monday, July 20, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.

Prohibition didn’t work because you can’t legislate morality. Some of today’s politicians are an example of this, and we should know better by now. What happened in the 1920s was that booze was outlawed and gangsters took over the distribution. Territorial gang wars erupted and crime was rampant.

Sound familiar?

As long as people use drugs, there will be demand and the drug lords will make billions. Do I condone drug use? No! However, as with Prohibition, it is senseless to try to control its use by legislation.

Instead, the government should control the distribution of drugs the same way we control alcohol use. The billions in revenue could be used to trim our national debt, jails won’t be as crowded and crime-related killings will be eliminated.

Further, how much death and disease can be attributed to “bad drugs” and the shared syringes, etc., is unknown, but I am sure it’s huge. This too can be controlled.

The supposed “War on Drugs” is a lost cause.

I still agree with Nancy Reagan: When it comes to drug use, don’t! However, let’s not ignore the reality of the situation — legislative prohibition of drug use is just as ridiculous and ineffective as was prohibition of alcohol.

Discussion: 1 comment so far…

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By StanG

July 21, 2009

6:36 p.m.

Suggest removal

There is a huge industry organized around and dependent on the criminalization of drugs. The FBI, the CIA, the Army, the Coast Guard, the DEA, local law enforcement, the judicial system, and the gigantic penal system. Then there are the billions we send to Mexico, Columbia and elsewhere to support various efforts to control supply. Demand is America's side of the equation and provides the money for arming the Taliban in Afghanistan. We could leave there today if their poppy fields retained their beauty but lost there monetary value.