Pubdate: Thu, 30 Aug 2007
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Raymond C. Niles
Note: Appeared with three other letters under "Down In The Trenches 
In A War That Can't Be Won"; MAP Editor provided secondary title.

LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS, NOT SUBSIDIZE THEM

Down In The Trenches In A War That Can't Be Won (3 Of 4)

I traveled to Vancouver recently for the first time, and happened 
upon East Hastings Street. I've lived in New York for more than 20 
years through rough times such as the crack epidemic of the early 
1990s, but that left me unprepared for what I saw. Human zombies were 
wandering everywhere in the middle of the day. People inhaled crack 
from a sidewalk "hookah" that looked like an octopus. It was a mecca 
of self-imposed human misery, and it was paid for by Canadian taxpayers.

I am completely for legalization of all drugs. If people want to 
destroy themselves, that is their right. But the alternative to 
banning drugs is not to subsidize them. That is the statist solution. 
Lost in this false alternative is individual liberty, where people 
are simply left alone to live their own lives, productively or not, 
as they see fit. Reality is punishment enough for drug addicts. Only 
a minority of people will choose that way of life because it is so 
self-destructive; their numbers are further reduced through early 
death. Subsidize that? It's insane.

Raymond C. Niles

New York
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman