Letter: Let Drug Warriors Pay For Own "War"
Jim Miller
September 2, 2008
Asbury Park Press (NJ)
The sentiments in the Aug. 26 letter "Don't give up war on drugs" exemplify the misguided logic that preys on our fears to continue one of the biggest failures of this country.
Illegal drug use is compared to rape, theft and murder, and it's asked if we should give up on them in addition to the war on drugs. The obvious difference here is that illegal drug use, in and of itself, does not infringe upon the rights of others.
The assertion that illegal drug sales create dangerous individuals who commit crimes is partially true, save for the part about creating dangerous individuals. Only God can create an individual, and some are indeed dangerous. However, a small percentage of people do, in fact, learn to become dangerous individuals after being incarcerated for using or possessing marijuana in the privacy of their own homes.
The most disconcerting part of the letter is the comment that drug use "creates dangerous individuals who commit crimes and behave in an unacceptable manner." Obviously people who commit crimes would not get a free pass if the war on drugs ended. So it must be controlling people's behavior that is the issue.
I have an idea we could implement while we figure out what to do about the war on drugs. The small number of people who want the U.S. to continue to fund the war on drugs could pay for it themselves. Then we could free up federal funds to do more important things.
Jim Miller
Tom's River | 
