Pubdate: Thu, 10 May 2012
Source: Creston Valley Advance (CN BC)
Column: Consider This
Copyright: 2012 Black Press
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/Kn5Ndn9Z
Website: http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/crestonvalleyadvance/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1413
Author: Vladimir Certik
Note: Vladimir Certik believes that thinking outside the box and 
engaging fellow citizens may bring simple solutions to complex problems.

LEGALIZATION THE BEST WAY TO WIN WAR ON DRUGS

First of all, I want to let readers know that I am not on any dope 
and never was. I don't even drink or smoke. Second, what I am going 
to write has strongly opinionated opponents, starting with my wife.

The so-called war on drugs is a total failure. Think of it: The 
British Empire, a colonial power, waged war with China some 200 years 
ago. The aim? Control of the opium trade. The Vietnam War brought to 
the U.S. an abundance of drugs from the Golden Triangle. The Reagan 
era is well known for its Iran-Contra scandal, when Central American 
terrorists got U.S. weapons and the CIA got their drugs.

The invasion of Afghanistan? The heroin trade, destroyed by Taliban, 
was restored and is in its blossom era ever since. Don't ask me how 
these drugs make it to the West (perhaps on unchecked CIA and 
Pentagon planes). The Mexico-U.S. border is basically a war zone with 
armed forces, gangs and "law" enforcers fighting for a slice of that 
pie, with deaths running into the hundreds of thousands. (Ciudad 
Juarez leads the pack with 30,000 drug-related corpses in the past 
six years alone. And believe me, you don't want to see pictures of 
those murdered mutilated bodies). In Columbia, the cocaine war has 
been going on for the past 40 years with no tangible result.

The war on drugs is in fact a war for drugs.

I heard that in the Creston Valley there are 12 undercover cops 
busting one marijuana grow-op after another while other grow-ops are 
mushrooming. Folks, that's a failure with an estimated $2 million 
cost to taxpayers, year in, year out, in our small valley. (That 
could run our recreation complex for free, indefinitely.) Never mind 
that it clogs the courts, fines or locks up small users and dealers, 
and fattens big fish that are never to be fried.

The solution? Legalize, regulate, educate. Cut criminal elements off, 
and free the cops, courts and taxpayers' money for real issues like 
prevention, education, outdoor activities and sports. Like alcohol 
and tobacco, whoever wants it will get it anyway. Prohibition in the 
U.S. brought Al Capone and his kind to the top. Gorbachev tried the 
same in 1980s and you know the result.

Once, a kid about 12 years old asked me for a smoke. I answered that 
I don't smoke and that there are only two groups of smokers: rich and 
stupid. I added, "You are apparently not stupid so you must be rich." 
He replied, "Not really," and walked away. I hope that encounter got 
him thinking and perhaps helped him a bit on the way out.

Can we find creative ways to deal with drugs? Prohibition simply does 
not work. Many law enforcement officials and politicians came to the 
same conclusion. Countries that legalized drugs have noticed a drop 
in crimes and no increase in drug use. While I do not advocate use of 
any harmful substance I see clearly that the current approach is an 
abysmal failure. Treating drugs like alcohol and tobacco (starting 
with legalizing marijuana) will give us a better alternative, saving 
society's resources.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom