Pubdate: Tue, 24 Mar 2009
Source: Pensacola News Journal (FL)
Copyright: 2009 The Pensacola News Journal
Contact: http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=OPINION0301
Website: http://www.pnj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1675
Author: Reginald T. Dogan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

END THE WAR ON DRUGS, PROSTITUTION

Is anyone really surprised that two years after  anti-crime sweeps, 
drugs and prostitution still plague  Brownsville?

I'm not.

Much like America's war on drugs, Operation Brownsville  and its 
aftermath have been colossal failures.

Any war on drugs, whether waged on a national or local  scale, is a 
losing battle.

This is not for want of effort.

The United States alone spends some $40 billion each  year trying to 
eliminate the drug supply, according to  the Drug Enforcement 
Administration. It arrests more  than a million of its citizens each 
year for drug  offenses, locking up half a million of them.

During the year and a half since Operation Brownsville,  Escambia 
County has spent nearly a half-million dollars  to rid the community 
of drugs and prostitutes -- to no  avail.

Crimes of consent

There is neither enough money nor manpower to track  down, arrest and 
prosecute all drug dealers and  prostitutes.

It is a waste of money and misuse of manpower, both of  which could 
be better suited to chasing down and  locking up violent offenders.

Prostitution and mind-altering drugs have been around  for centuries. 
You can't stop it; you can only try to  contain it.

One only has to look at history to see the folly of  arresting people 
for consensual crimes, like drug abuse  and prostitution. The sale 
and manufacture of alcohol  was made a consensual crime during 
prohibition. America  still drank plenty of booze.

When alcohol was legalized again, the United States  made plenty of 
money by taxing the sale of it.

It could do the same with drugs and prostitution.

People's choice

If consensual crimes were legal, it would not only save  America 
money, it would help it earn more. The Office  of National Drug 
Control Policy estimates that  Americans spend about $66 billion a 
year on drugs  alone. This money does not usually enter the regular 
economy, but stays in the black market of drugs.

Not only could America tax consensual crimes if they  were legal, it 
could also regulate them. The government  would have to impose health 
standards, thus making the  drugs and prostitution safer than they 
would be on the  streets.

The laws seem to be in place to promote some sort of  national 
morality. Well, there is no national morality.

It is time that our government stop treating its  citizens like they 
are irresponsible children.

The people should be the ones to decide if they want to  use drugs or 
buy sex, not the government and the church  or antiquated laws and 
outdated mores.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom