Pubdate: Sat, 10 Jan 2009 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Author: Paul Alberstat Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n021/a11.html TAKE CONTROL Re: "Now we see the victims of victimless crimes," Editorial, Jan. 7. The government for years has called its actions a "war on drugs" so the public would feel safe. However, they will never stop the flow of illegal drugs that fund organized criminal activities despite throwing millions of dollars a year at what amounts to a public relations exercise. For every grow house they close, another four go up. If the government can't stop the flow of illegal drugs, why not control it the way they control liquor sales by legalization? This would immediately remove a major source of funding for organized crime, not to mention freeing up of hundreds of millions of dollars from this so-called "war" to go to far more important areas like battling crack, cocaine and heroin trafficking. With legalization, the taxation of such would also add hundreds of millions of dollars to government coffers. The lesser of two evils sometimes does make sense. Paul Alberstat Calgary - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin