Pubdate: Mon, 03 Nov 2008
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2008 The Calgary Sun
Contact:  http://www.calgarysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67
Author: Dennis Young
Note: Parenthetical remark by the Sun editor.

DRUGS AREN'T THE PROBLEM

The mayor has said that he doesn't have the money to put an end to 
the drug war being waged on the streets of Calgary. No kidding. In 
Russia in the mid 1980s they literally had a cop on every corner and 
heroin use increased by 400% a year. We could triple the number of 
cops on our streets, pay exorbitant taxes and the war would become 
more violent than it is today. It's economics. If you remove a large 
part of a demanded product, you drive up its value and make more 
players more violent to possess a smaller amount of product. Removing 
drugs will increase the violence. Drugs will always be available. Do 
we want the trade to be violent or peaceful? The U.S. discovered this 
during the Al Capone era and ended the alcohol war. It's time the 
mayor and police solved problems with competent actions rather than 
fanning the flames of violence with a big dumb hammer and raiding our 
bank accounts.

DENNIS YOUNG

(The mayor and police don't have any control over Canada's drug laws.)
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom