Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2001
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2001 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Contact:  http://home.post-dispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418
Author: Genya Human

DRUG LAWS' COST

I am an average citizen, average in every way -- except that I know 
how to solve the drug problem.

The real problem is that we pay many times over to keep drugs 
illegal. We pay with stolen Tvs and VCRs, insurance costs, hijacked 
cars, our freedom and the lives of loved ones. After these costs, we 
then get to pay to feed, clothe and house the drug addicts in prison.

In dollars and souls what is it costing to keep drugs illegal? 
Recently a man admitted scaling an 8-foot fence at 4 a.m. and 
brutally stabbing a man to death in his own backyard. Why? The 
perpetrator said he assaulted people every day to pay for his drug 
habit.

What would be different if selling drugs no longer had any profit in 
it? If drugs were legal and cheap? Would we still have addicts? Yes, 
and lots of them: food, sex, alcohol, gambling and drugs. However if 
there is no profit in an addiction, society doesn't pay. Have you 
ever heard of a drive-by shooting committed by a food addict 
desperate for Twinkies? How many people were bootlegging after 
Prohibition?

If you are of free will, at least 21 years of age and have chosen a 
life of enslavement to drugs, I say, "Have at it!" Only leave me and 
my loved ones alone!

Genya Human
St. Louis
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MAP posted-by: Josh