Pubdate: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 Source: Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) Copyright: 2008 South Jersey Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/29 Author: Tim Datig STIMULATE THE ECONOMY - AND FIGHT AL-QAIDA - BY LEGALIZING DRUGS Part of the solution to America's economic crisis can be found in any basic history textbook. Seventy-five years ago this December, our nation's leaders were sensible enough to realize that we could no longer afford to enforce the ineffective prohibition of alcohol during the Great Depression and that we should instead bolster our economy with tax revenue from legal liquor and beer sales. Today, we could similarly fill in a big part of the hole in our economy if we stopped spending so much money locking people up and instead moved drugs out of the criminal black market and into a system of legalized and taxed regulation. But the economy isn't the only reason we should change our drug laws. As a retired police officer, police chief and member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, I hope policymakers remember how we put dangerous gangsters like Al Capone out of business when we ended alcohol prohibition. Today, we can hurt al-Qaida's bottom line by regulating the drug trade that these terrorists currently make so much money from. The illegal drug trade is estimated to be $450 billion per year worldwide. We are arresting 2 million people a year for mostly minor drug offenses. Our prisons are bursting at the seams, and the prison industry is perhaps the fastest growing business in the United States. We repealed a failed prohibition policy once before to help solve economic and crime problems. We can do it again. TIM DATIG Egg Harbor Township - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom