Pubdate: Tue, 25 Feb 2003
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Paul H. Duggan

STOP THE DRUG WAR AND BOOST REVENUES

Mary O'Grady's Feb. 14 Americas column on America's failure to confront 
Colombian terrorists properly portrays the carnage wrought by FARC in its 
civil war. The contributions caused by our prohibition on coca and other 
"controlled substances" is, however, given short shrift. Indeed, it is FARC 
itself that benefits most by this prohibition.

The war on drugs and its extreme manifestation, mandatory minimum 
sentences, have incarcerated many nonviolent drug users at great expense 
and done little to stem the demand. Our corrections departments themselves 
seem incapable of keeping drugs out of prisons. So long as the war on drugs 
targets minorities and the poor (and stays "off campus"), support among 
policy makers remains high. Indeed, after Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter was 
caught with cocaine at her drug treatment facility, prison was still not an 
option.

Our government went from prosecuting gambling to promoting it (lotteries) 
in little more than a generation. Perhaps when the revenue potential of 
"controlled substances" is recognized, there will be a similar change of heart.

For Frederic Bastiat, the 19th-century French economist, governmental 
coercion was legitimate only if it served "to guarantee security of person, 
liberty, and property rights, to cause justice to reign over all." Who 
defines what constitutes our "pursuit of happiness"?

Paul H. Duggan
Bryan, Ohio
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