Pubdate: Sat, 03 Jan 1998
Date: January 3, 1998
Source: The San Francisco Chronicle
Author: Redford Givens

In the real world, drug prohibition abdicates market control to
criminals and corrupted officials. Prohibition laws control,
suppress and regulate very little, unless you think chasing
street level dealers from one neighborhood to another
accomplishes something. Prohibition has not succeeded in
attaining any of its original goals.

The solution to most of our drug problems is to legalize drugs
for adult use and license the dealers and manufacturers.
Legalization won't eliminate drugs, but it will eliminate all the
problems associated with an illegal black market. A licensing
scheme similar to that used for alcohol would put the criminals
out of business overnight. Bootleggers couldn't compete in the
legal alcohol market after repeal and neither will the drug
cartels be able to compete against licensed drug dealers
regulated by the state.

With legalization, drug use by children could be reduced
considerably because licensed dealers won't risk their businesses
selling to minors. With prohibition, children are totally
vulnerable to drugs, because black market dealers have nothing to
lose by selling to all comers. A legal market restricted to
adults would greatly reduce drug use among the young, exactly the
same way repeal stopped the epidemic of child drinking that went
on during alcohol prohibition.

The prohibitionists get excited by the word legalization, but it
really means returning some measure of control and regulation to
society. It's time to abandon drug prohibition and regulate the
drug market.

Redford Givens
San Francisco, CA