Here be a comment I posted to a letter to the editor of the local newspaper.
Like policemen, prosecutors have a rather limited and jaundiced viewpoint of their fellow humans.
Quite likely, more than a few of Mr. Spears' fellow lawyers and judges, and even prosecutors and policemen, have used and are using marijuana. His experience was with the sad cases, where defendants abused every illegal substance they could get their hands on.
I've never used marijuana, but to me when it comes to harm, marijuana is not in the same league with alcohol and tobacco, which are all too legal to market, sell, possess and use.
And if you talk about gateway drugs, the true gateway drugs are -- alcohol and tobacco.
The drug war is having two significant effects. (1) It has made many Americans criminals, as Robertson says. (2) It has created and feeds a monstrous criminal enterprise that profits on the American appetite for illegal drugs.
In my opinion, we need to trust and to educate our people to make good choices. We need also to give our own farmers some of the profit available and put as many narcotrafficantes out of business as we can.
The reason why so many dollars go south to profit criminal enterprise is our failed drug policy. Drug laws are little obstacle to the stronger laws of human nature and supply and demand.
What is successful drug interdiction? Stopping enough shipments so that market price increases to levels so as to put the product out of reach for most consumers. Say 70-80% of all shipments.
ReplyDeleteHow are we doing? I don't know, but would guess we are interdicting 20-40% of shipments.