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