Greater Austin Crime Commission
Public safety is a community concern
February 8, 2012
Drug Czar Stands Firmly Against Legalization
Current "Drug Czar" Gil Kerlikowske spoke recently at a border control conference in El Paso. He addressed the issue of drug legalization and ridiculed the idea that taxing and regulating illegal drugs would put drug traffickers out of business.
“[Traffickers] would not change their ways and turn to legal pursuits if drugs were legal,” he stated. “Legalizing drugs makes them cheaper, makes them more accessible and therefore makes them more widely abused.”
Kerlikowske furthured this assertion by giving the example of prescription drugs, which have caused a crisis of their own. “We actually have [prescription] drugs that are highly legal, highly taxed, highly regulated and highly controlled. We have found as a country [that] we are totally incapable of keeping those drugs out of the hands of young people,” he said.
As a counter to people wishing to put illegal drugs on the same level as alcohol and tobacco, Kerlikowske upholds that “Money that’s collected in taxes on nicotine and ... alcohol at the state and federal level does not even begin to compare to the social and criminal justice and health care costs as a result of nicotine and … alcohol abuse.”
He made it evident that he does not view legalization as a realistic option for either the United States or Mexico.
To view the Texas Tribune article on this issue, follow this link: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-mexico-border-news/texas-mexico-border/drug-czar-kerlikowske-legalizing-drugs-not-answer/
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