Please tax marijuana
Still hugely political these days. If you are on Facebook with me, you are sick to death of my links to all kinda political goings on. I thought it was a phase but, like the autism rabbit hole, I’m still down with it. One of my all-time favorite rabbit holes is the war on drugs. Hal and I co-wrote a letter to the Key West Citizen in 1994:

“Letter to the Editor
Thursday, January 20, 1994

I am writing to question the logic of your editorial of Dec. 30 urging the continued prohibition of drugs. You implied that you believe the “war on drugs” has been successful. Further, in light of this wild success, the way to deal with alcohol and tobacco abuse would be to prohibit their use and start a “war on smokers and booze.”

We tried alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and ’30s. It caused more crime, violence, corruption, and death than the American people were willing to put up with. Our tolerance for crime, violence, corruption and death has increased since then, otherwise we would have abandoned our prohibition of drugs long ago.

There is no evidence to show there are more alcoholics without prohibition than there would be with it. Prohibionists see a tiny minority of people with a disease and insist that we all take the cure. The price of the cure has become too high.

Your claim that legalized drugs may increase one’s chances of becoming an addict is also unsupported by any evidence. On the contrary, legalized drugs would prevent many more, equally tragic events from continuing to happen, events such as:

  • Accidental injury or death of innocent bystanders in disputed drug deals.
  • The death of drug users poisoned by poor quality street drugs.
  • Loss of life or property to a desperate addict who must steal because he can’t afford the price of forbidden drugs with an ordinary job.
  • Random searches and seizure of property belonging to innocent citizens.
  • Corruption of our law enforcement establishment by drug money.
  • The waste of billions of tax dollars on the capture, trial and imprisonment of harmless and otherwise law-abiding drug users.
  • The slaughter of a generation of young men in gang wars over illegal drug markets.

The war on drugs is a war against the American people. Right or wrong, prohibition does more harm than good. It is tearing our country apart socially and financially, as it did in the 1920s and ’30s.

There is a widespread agreement that ending alcohol prohibition was a good idea. The time has come to end drug prohibition as well. Not because we support drug use, but because we can no longer afford the crime, violence, corruption and death that prohibition has spawned.”

Good letter, eh? Surprisingly, it did not end the war on drugs. NORML is still chipping away at it, thank goodness. I even send them money – I support all my causes with $10 a year. I figure a pittance is better than nothing. Which is about what I have left… Anyway.

NORML recently held a contest for a TV ad. The winner did an incredible job. Witness:

Love it. See the other three prize-winning ads here.

We are in the states, drooling over unbroken pavement. We are so easy to impress. More soon, love & peace.

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