Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jul 2011
Source: Kamloops Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2011 Kamloops Daily News
Contact:  http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/679
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

DRUGS: ILLEGAL FOR A REASON

The call for the legalization of drugs is getting louder, based on 
the presumption that if we can't eradicate drugs, the solution must 
be to accommodate them.

The arguments are sometimes persuasive, if not for their logic, then 
at least for their strength of conviction.

But the arguments never explain why we haven't yet solved the myriad 
problems of drinking and driving, drinking and rioting, drinking and 
picking a fight, or drinking and beating a spouse.

So how would society fare with other forms of inebriation and 
impairment? Are we naive enough to think it wouldn't be an issue?

The idea of thousands or millions more people tripping through life 
under the influence of an increasing array of mind-altering 
substances leaves us cold. Surely, there is a measure of insanity in 
thinking that the widespread warping of our thought processes won't 
cost us more lives and immeasurable heartache.

And it's a pipe dream to think that we could control the supply and 
demand of drugs once they are legal. We already have a monstrous 
hydra of a problem with people addicted to prescription drugs. How 
does that happen?

Then there's contaminated toothpaste and pet food from China. Plus 
multiple recalls of foods and drugs in spite of extensive regulations 
and monitoring.

As for the complaint that governments waste massive fortunes fighting 
a losing battle, drug-enforcement agencies -- the RCMP and the 
numerous government branches in the U.S. -- reap massive fortunes 
when they confiscate the property of convicted drug dealers. Real 
estate, luxury homes, exotic automobiles, boats, ships, yachts, 
aircraft -- the list is long and the recouped cash is astronomical. 
The government doesn't brag about it, but that big money goes 
straight into government coffers.

Illegal drugs are illegal because they are too dangerous and 
unpredictable to be controlled even by a diligent government.

Meanwhile, organized crime will develop more exciting, more addictive 
drugs outside government guidelines. And how easy would those drugs 
be to peddle to a much broader base of potential customers already 
accustomed to messing willingly with their own heads?

Someone has to think straight in this matter, and society as a whole 
is not prepared to surrender that responsibility to those who 
advocate living stoned, full-or part-time. Legitimate medical 
marijuana use aside, we say being stoned is the best way to think 
that legalizing drugs is a good idea.

Advocates will continue to point to Holland's liberal drug and 
prostitution laws, implying a wonderful success story.

We say the Holland that once produced one of the world's 
most-powerful navies and some of the world's most daring explorers, 
and magnificent artists and musicians who are still revered hundreds 
of years later . . . the Holland that became a prosperous nation 
built on land that would have succumbed to the sea centuries ago were 
it not for the hard work, inventiveness and determination of the 
Dutch -- that Holland hasn't been heard from for a very long time.

We wonder where that Holland went.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom