PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES THE FEDERAL and provin- cial governments have had one of their occasional colli-- sions with reality, a bruising event for any politician in this age when the woes of ‘mankind are to be solved by the passage of more laws. The public, perverse as ever, keeps pushing away the lifebelt. It’s like the scene ina Kurt Vonnegut novel in which the sue- . Gessful revolutionary, watching the ‘unravelling of the regime he has created, laments, “We invented the perfect society. If only it weren't for the public, the damned public...” In this country the damned pub- lic resisted higher tax on cigarettes. Ottawa raised the tax for the entire- ly laudable purposes of discourag- ing smoking while snatching a few more shekels. The people turned to crime. ‘It reached the point in Quebec where one out of every three pack- “ages of cigarettes sold was smug- » «pled. ~~ No authority has made an esti- ‘mate for B.C., but we know ciga- _Tette smuggling has been a mullti- million-dollar industry lately. - Seizures in Bellingham have shown that. 2c In the end, Ottawa chose to accept reality. The tax was lowered ALL FABRICS ON SALE! NO EXCEPTIONS! ALL NOTIONS! and most of the profit bas wone out of the criminal Gade in tahaece. One by one. the other provinces will doubtless follow ihe example of the federal government, Quebec and New Brunswick -~ cut taxes, reduce smuggling and let smokers goto hell in their own way, Nat many people argue that smoking is good for us. We Kio smokers die younger, They clog the hung cancer wards in our hospitals, They add to the premiums thitt non- smokers pay for heatth insurance. There are lots af first-class rea- sons for prohibiting cigarettes entirely in this society but they cal- lide with just one negative reason — it can't be done. Only criminals profit by prohibition. The same principle applies 10 liquor, which we once foolishly tried to prohibit. We don’t hear much about liquor snuggling aow. That might seem odd, since liquor taxes went up again, also. Ut isn’t so odd if you take nate of how many people you know are making white lightning in the basement. There remains the worst govern ment mistake of all, the attempt to prohibit narcotic drugs. This is the one reality that no North American goverament accepts. “The war on drugs has been lost. After three quarters of a century of police work, illegal narcotics are so plentiful that there is even a modest decrease in street prices. We have nothing to show for narcotics prohibition except the world's biggest tax-free industry and the most powerful and ruthless criminal gangs in all history. Yet it remains a reality that, unlike the cigarette affair, must not be faced. We hear angry cries of Canadian doctors deploring lower cigarette ‘taxes, Not many heard the U.S, sur- geon general when she suggested that a study be made of how much violence and crime might be avert- ed if narcotic drugs were legalized in the U.S. American surgeons-general have fought the nicotine trade for more than a generation, They haye tire- lessly publicized the dangers of -* smoking. Yet Surgeon General Jocelyn NO EXCEPTIONS! OPEN: Mon.-Sat. 9:30-5:30, Sun.12-5 NORTH VANCOUVER ONLY 1058 Marine Drive (beside Mark's Work Wearhouse) 987-8611 wy Py jumped through his bat and shouted Friday, February 18, 1294 - North Share News - 9 e realities of drugs Flders has suggested that tegaliza- sings which spills over inte the Hien of drags deserves examination, innoceal members of the public. President Bit Clinton promptly Robbery and burglary by addicts, who are deiven to erie by their need for money to buy expensive drags, The corruption of potice and government officials. Finally, a Stiggering cost to taxpayers, People like Ms. Fders and Mr. Sterling are going to Keep asking questions that can’t be answered by worn oul slogans. nnnister, hearing ie prime minister Jath that wity, would become silent as crowbar, Americans are differ ent, Surgeon Gengrat Elders returned to the subject. Speaking to an audi- ence in New York she said, "fread. ized E probably mitde ie mare hoa est, above-hoard skuement than | knew bmade,” The surgeon general has the benefit of a recent detailed study: by the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation whose president, Eric Sterling, has detailed the costs of the second great experiment in pro- hibition. Who in B.C, wouldn't recognize them? The creation of criminal empires. Violence among criminal no, a thousand times bo, you shall hot even think or talk about ending our waron drugs. All living Anmevican presidents have devoted themselves to that war, as they did to the war against Vietnam, As inthe Vietnam war, they keep seeing light atthe end of the tunnel. After a while they start seeing light even when there is no tunnel. They just never see the truth, Oue might expect that the presi- dent's rehuke would silence hts sur- geon general. A Canadian cabinet Souner or tater, Mr. Clinton and our own political leaders will have fo face the reality that narcotic drugs, like cigarettes, like alcohol, sinnot be legistated out of exis tence and that the cost of trying is sometimes unbearable. 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