Re "The day the beer flowed again," Opinion, April 7

Maureen Ogle writes, "Prohibition spawned an underground economy devoted to making, shipping and selling booze. ... The poison of such corruption permeated daily life."

Similar problems have arisen from our current drug laws. While I disapprove of using marijuana, cocaine and heroin, we must acknowledge that the lethal South American drug cartels flourish because cocaine is illegal. Legalize cocaine and tax it, and many serious criminal problems would evaporate. Even robberies would eventually decline because those people so inclined would steal less to obtain money for their supply. Additionally, the billions saved not fighting the war on drugs could be combined with the taxes from coke and marijuana and used to secure the border against illegal immigration.

Heroin presents a unique dilemma. Heroin kills. Heroin profits finance the Taliban. Heroin kills again. Taking the profits out of heroin smuggling would help us fight the Taliban and perhaps Al Qaeda.

Arch Miller

Arcadia

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