Pubdate: Wed, 27 Aug 2014
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Copyright: 2014 The Columbus Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.dispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/93
Author: Marvin H. Thomas
Page: A13

SOCIETY SHOULD LEARN FROM PAST PROHIBITIONS

The Wednesday op-ed "Drug courts can help reduce recidivism" by Jack 
D'Aurora certainly offers a step in the right direction. However, it 
is only a step, not the final destination.

I think we need to put up the white flag in the war on drugs. The 
most practical approach would be the legalization of most, if not 
all, of the illicit drugs. We have spent billions of dollars and seen 
innumerable deaths in the attempt to eliminate the supply and dampen 
the demand with little, if any, success. Production sites simply 
shift when confronted with possible destruction and demand remains unabated.

We should learn from the prohibition of alcohol. Use of alcohol can 
lead to multiple ill effects, but the crime, murders and jail terms 
have been curtailed since the end of Prohibition.

Cigarettes are legal, although with appropriate education and 
controls, their use has been markedly reduced, though sadly often 
concentrated in the lower income groups.

We need to move in a similar direction with drugs. Monitoring, 
education and warnings should be unremitting; but hopefully, the 
profit motive, with its attendant crime and effects on whole 
neighborhoods will be removed.

Initially there might be an increase in the number of addicts, so an 
appropriate system must be constructed to aid them. That system also 
must keep children and teenagers from unnecessary exposure to drugs.

While there is no perfect solution, ripping out huge amounts of money 
from the drug trade cannot be any worse than what we see now, and 
there would be no jail time for possession unless other crimes are committed.

DR. MARVIN H. THOMAS

Blacklick
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom