Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jul 2009
Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW)
Website: http://www.drugsense.org

LETTER OF THE WEEK

THE MONEY'S DOWN THE DRAIN

By E.F.

Re "Where our money goes" by Kevin Wehr and students (SN&R Essay, June 25):

The "war on drugs" is certainly where a lot of our money goes.

After 10 years of sobriety, I returned to active drug use and am 
completely unable to see where our "war on drugs" has made any 
difference in a decade. I have seen slight differences--like how the 
number of individuals [who] will commit a crime to support their 
habit seems to have risen.  I wonder how many billions of dollars 
have been spent to achieve this milestone, while our children's 
schools are crumbling around them and millions of citizens have no 
health insurance, people are losing jobs and soda pop is killing more 
people from diabetes then illicit drugs are killing addicts.

We spend billions to destroy the supply which raises the price so 
that the traffickers (who usually reside in a foreign country ) make 
more money, while the users (in our country) go broke, thus leading 
to such crimes as assault, murder, home invasions, kidnapping, 
robbery, theft, child endangerment, starvation, domestic violence, 
prostitution, fraud, terrorism ... and I could go on and on.

Instead, we could be spending our tax dollars right here in the good 
old United States by attacking the demand and helping addicts. That 
would create jobs, severely cut crime and end the never-ending 
corruption in drug-producing countries like Afghanistan, Colombia and so on.

At least 500 economists (including Nobel laureates Milton Friedman, 
George Akerlof and Vernon L.  Smith) have noted that reducing the 
supply of marijuana without reducing the demand causes the price, and 
hence the profits of marijuana sellers, to go up, according to the 
laws of supply and demand. The increased profits encourage the 
production of more drugs despite the risks, providing a theoretical 
explanation for why attacks on drug supply have failed to have any 
lasting effect.

A 2008 study by Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron has estimated that 
legalizing drugs would inject $76.8 billion a year into the 
U.S.  economy--$44.1 billion from law-enforcement savings and at 
least $32.7 billion in tax revenue ($6.7 billion from marijuana, 
$22.5 billion from cocaine and heroin, remainder from other drugs). 
Recent surveys help to confirm the consensus among economists to 
reform drug policy in the direction of decriminalization and legalization.

Why do the taxpayers in this country allow our government to beat a 
dead horse? The citizens can effect any change they wish--and not 
just by voting--but by knowing and communicating with their elected officials.

E.F.

Sacramento

Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jul 2009

Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)

Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n000/a145.html 
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