Pubdate: Sun, 09 Jan 2011
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2011 William Perry
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: William Perry

FAILED WAR ON DRUGS SHOULD BE ISSUE

The U.S-style "war on drugs" adopted by Canada continues to receive
millions in funding every year, not because of its successes, but
rather its failures.

Because the government is the distributor of alcohol, cocaine and
heroin are focused on.

Despite all the lives that have been destroyed and all the money so
poorly spent, today illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent and easier
to get than they were 35 years ago. All this seriously questions the
increase in police, judges, probation and parole officers, and soon
more prisons and correctional officers.

We need to treat drug addiction as a health problem, and at the very
least get the legalization and regulation of drugs on the agenda. Drug
legalization removes all criminal penalties for producing, selling and
using drugs; no country has tried it. In contrast, decriminalization,
as practised in Portugal, eliminates jail time for drug users but
maintains criminal penalties for dealers.

William Perry

Victoria
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