Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jul 2014
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Robert Sharpe

ABOUT THE BORDER

Regarding your thoughtful editorial, the drug war gives rise to the
problems it purports to resolve. The crime, corruption and overdose
deaths attributed to illegal drugs are invariably the result of drug
prohibition. Alcohol prohibition once financed organized crime and
increased harm to consumers from unregulated bathtub gin. Violent turf
battles over illegal alcohol profits ended in 1933 when alcohol
prohibition ended.

Now we have mass migration of unaccompanied minors fleeing the
violence that the U.S. drug war has wrought in Mexico and Central
America. Shameless politicians seeking to literally scare up votes use
the tremendous societal damage caused by drug prohibition as
justification for throwing good money after bad public policy. It's
long past time that voters stopped letting our so-called leaders get
away with this harmful ruse.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Matt