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Friday, February 08, 2008
Burt Prelutsky :: Townhall.com Columnist
Time Once Again to Prohibit Prohibition
by Burt Prelutsky
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Admittedly, it’s a little late to make resolutions for 2008, but seeing as I only make them for other people, I don’t think the same time constraints are in order. So, while the rest of you are selfishly occupied trying to diet or break your nicotine habit or swear off your unseemly addiction to so-called reality TV, my focus is on trying to improve society in general.

For openers, I’d like to suggest that the athletes, both in college and the professional ranks, break a couple of really obnoxious habits this coming year. I, for one, am sick and tired of watching baseball players point to the sky each time they cross home plate after hitting a home run. It’s as they’re suggesting that God had personally lifted the ball over the fence, when we all know that most of them owe their inflated power stats to steroids, and not divine intervention.

But football players are even worse. I suppose it all began with that idiot, former New York Jet lineman Mark Gastineau, who always pranced around after sacking a quarterback. Now you see the same boorish behavior each and every time a cornerback deflects a pass or a linebacker makes a tackle. The offensive players, not to be outdone, feel compelled to boogy all over the end zone any time they score, even on one-yard plunges. As some football coach, who was obviously as turned off as I by these egotistical displays, once put it to his players: “Behave as if you’ve been there before.”

Not only are these celebrations stupid, but except when they occur at game’s end, they tend to be embarrassingly premature. I mean, one second some 300-pound bozo is strutting around because he’s tackled a running back for no gain, and the next second the same guy has deked him out of his shoes and scampered 65 yards for a touchdown.

Next, I would like to see an end to the War on Drugs. It’s a colossal waste of time, money and resources. I am not an advocate for illegal drugs, but for commonsense.

I don’t use drugs and I very rarely drink alcohol, so I’m not campaigning on my own behalf, but what difference does it make to you what some fool decides to smoke, snort or shoot into his arm?

If you make the junk legal, we’ll not only be able to collect tax revenue, but the price comes down and users aren’t forced to steal in order to finance their habits. Plus, overnight, it would free up jail cells so that we could put an end to early release for those cretins who should never see the light of day. Continued...

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About The Author
W. Burt Prelutsky is an accomplished, well-rounded writer and author of "The Secret of Their Success: Interviews with Legends and Luminaries."
 
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Subject: I41say - -
"I don't think drug use or trafficking will ever go away. If now-illegal drugs are legalized, I think that there will be MORE users, and drug sales will go up."

Perhaps. But crimes due to trafficking would go DOWN.


"I think more violent crimes (among drug traffickers) would occur, because the government would be a competitor, too."

That did not happen when alcohol prohibition was repealed. Why would it happen with drugs?


"The majority of teenagers/college students haven't committed crimes before they experiment with drugs; most of them try it because of peer pressure."

And almost NONE of them commit crimes.

The vast majority of the people who commit crimes do NOT come from the community of college students. They come from urban slums and inner-city gangs.


"And drug users wouldn't be in jail if they hadn't gotten hooked on drugs in the first place;"

Make it legal, and they won't go to jail!


"they commit crimes to feed their habit."

In the cases where this happens, it's because the drug is EXPENSIVE. The same thing happened with alcohol prohibition.



"Drugs destroy minds, and they cause ADDICTED drug users to become violent if they don't get their fix."

First of all, this statement is false -- but let's entertain it for a moment, and once again shift to the alcohol analogy -- how many alcohol addicts have any difficulty whatsoever getting their next beer? Almost none.

Same with drugs. If you're afraid that an addict will become violent if he doesn't get his fix, then make it legal so he CAN get his fix.

If it destroys his life, let him destroy his life. This is supposed to be a free country. It's his life, isn't it? Not yours?

Don't we get upset when liberals try to take control of our lives "for our own good"? Why is it any different with drugs?

Unka Alby:

I agree with your second post that people who start down the path of a criminal career, are more likely to "do other things that are illegal"; and that "criminal behavior exposes a person to criminal influences."

On post two, you asked:

"Does marijuana et al CAUSE people to commit crimes? Does it increase the likelihood?"

More people who use marijuana commit crimes, than people who don't; and it's not the only drug that would be legalized. People use drugs to get high, and marijuana leads to the use of other drugs.

http://www.isp.state.id.us/investigations/marijuana.pdf

"... There is proof that marijuana increases harmful and criminal behavior on the user..."

Crack smoking driver causes multiple car crash:

http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/414345.html

You wrote: "So if there's any sort of causal relationship at all, it's probably the other direction: i.e., committing crime CAUSES a person to be more likely to do illegal drugs."

The majority of teenagers/college students haven't committed crimes before they experiment with drugs; most of them try it because of peer pressure. And drug users wouldn't be in jail if they hadn't gotten hooked on drugs in the first place; they commit crimes to feed their habit. Drugs destroy minds, and they cause
ADDICTED drug users to become violent if they don't get their fix.

And legalizing now-illegal drugs would become another way for Americans to rely on the government to "do what's best for someone" (in this case, the drug addict). It would be like saying that "bad choices don't have consequences and the government approves of a bad habit."

That's my honest opinion.
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