Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2011
Source: DrugSense Blog
Website: http://drugsense.org/blog/

LETTER OF THE WEEK

DRUGS WON THE WAR

Re: Canada's illicit drug trade growing, March 3.

So if I read this article correctly, all the billions of dollars 
spent on the "war on drugs" in the United States and Canada has 
resulted in a growth in the trade.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) spokesperson then 
goes on to say what a "professional" job the RCMP and the Canadian 
government have done in combating drug trafficking.

This raises a couple of questions: are illicit drugs harder to find 
than they were 30 years ago when the "war on drugs" started? No. Has 
scarcity even made the price go up? Again no.

So, in other words, prohibition has completely failed and, in fact, 
has caused a great deal of harm by criminalizing a large segment of 
the population for use of a relatively harmless herb (marijuana).

Compare this to the approach toward cigarettes, a legal product 
guaranteed to kill 50 per cent of its consumers.

Tobacco is taxed quite heavily. Those taxes pay for education and 
smoking cessation programs. And smoking rates have declined 
substantially over the same 30-year period.

So, you would think that, if your real goal was to reduce illicit 
drug use, the "professional" approach would be to admit that 
prohibition has failed and try legalization, regulation, taxation, 
and education. Of course, that might threaten those "drug and related 
budgets" which the INCB insist must be maintained. If they actually 
solved the problem, a whole lot of "enforcers" would need new jobs.

Scott Kelland

Merrickville

Pubdate: Sat, 5 Mar 2011

Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)

Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n147/a07.html 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake