Pubdate: Thu, 22 Aug 2002
Source: The Monitor (TX)
Copyright: 2002 The Monitor
Contact:  http://www.themonitor.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1250
Author: Ray Aldridge

DRUG WAR IS STUPID, FUTILE

To the editor:

I read with amazement Byron D. Cagle's letter ("Stupid to back 
legalization," Aug. 15) criticizing the editorial calling for a more 
rational drug policy.

He lost me from the beginning. He attempted to excuse the abject failure of 
the drug war by saying "I suppose we could also say, "Well, there are 
25,000 murders every year and murder is a difficult thing to prevent, so 
let's just decriminalize murder." It's hard to take seriously anyone who 
can't tell any moral difference between pot smoking and murder.

He then descends completely into hysteria, claiming that other countries 
"doctor" their drug statistics to conceal the failure of rational drug 
policies. Evidently suffering from a mistaken belief that Canada has 
legalized drug use, he claims that 25 percent of kids in British Columbia 
go to school stoned. How does he know this, if Canada is doctoring its 
statistics?

I could go on, but it just gets sillier. Mr. Cagle and others who fear that 
Americans might be too free should try to remember that ending prohibition 
will not end drug abuse and addiction. But it will do away with all the 
problems that have resulted from the drug war: Billionaire drug lords, 
corruption of our most important institutions and the shameful fact that we 
Americans have put more of our own people into jail than any other country 
on Earth.

The drug war is stupid, destructive, futile, and un-American. The sooner 
it's over, the better.

Ray Aldridge

Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.
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