SpeakOut 1/9

Call 471-6636

In response to "Prosecutors are urged to fight against legalizing drugs like marijuana," Prosecutor Paul Boyd is half right. Marijuana is a "great seducer." But it is not the drug that seduces. It is the wealth its illegality offers unscrupulous entrepreneurs who push illegal drugs. Marijuana retails for the price of gold; cocaine and meth, 10 times the price of gold; and heroin, almost 100 times the price of gold. (Can you imagine anything worth $25,000 per ounce?) The only way to defang drugs is to take out the profit, and the least destructive way would be to undercut the street market. Sell now-illegal drugs in state stores much as Pennsylvania began selling liquor when it was re-legalized in 1933. Then go one step beyond Pennsylvania. Use part of that huge revenue stream to build clinics. Offer counseling and open-ended treatment to all who ask, methadone maintenance and, if nothing else will work, drug maintenance so these people can live nearly normal lives. The Swiss have done this since 1994 and find that taxpayers save money, even when all services are free to the addict and no new taxes put on drugs or marijuana. Most of that saving is in what the Swiss call "legal behavior," i.e.: the addicts no longer rob and steal. And marijuana is a "gateway" to addition? Not in Switzerland. Even though the Swiss have been liberalizing its use since 1994, fewer young people are becoming addicted to hard drugs. The age of addicts registering for drug maintenance has trended upward since its beginning in 1994.

To the person who is looking for answers about the story on Iran and Iraq, you can call the toll-free number 1-800-929-7566 and tell them the information you want.

We called the toll-free number given above. This is the headquarters of Lyndon LaRouche, Democratic presidential pre-candidate who is one of the editors of "Executive Intelligence Review," a weekly news magazine. LaRouche has written several articles about Iraq and Iran and you can call this number for information about the countries.

Some law firms should consider a class action suit against the state or whoever the state contracted to pave AB highway which runs west of Salcedo over to Highway 25. I can't be the only one traveling this road whose windshield has been cracked by flying rocks, not just once, but a number of times. The pavement is coming apart. Whoever did this paving obviously didn't do it correctly and should be held accountable.