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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Letter of the day: 'Vices are like snakes'

Posted: 02/11/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Apichart Weerawong / The Associated Press Archives Suspected meth dealers are paraded at a police news conference in Bangkok in 2010.

Re: Mistaken about drugs (Letters, Feb. 7). The fatal flaw in Chris Buors' philosophy is the belief that legalization and free access to vices like drugs, alcohol, gambling and prostitution reduces social costs and magically causes organized crime to wither away or disappear.

That certainly isn't the case in Las Vegas or Bangkok. Contrary to popular belief, it didn't happen in Amsterdam and it definitely won't happen here.

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Vices are like baby snakes. People see one they like and start feeding it like a pet. The more they feed it, the bigger it grows and the more demanding it becomes.

Soon they're forced to find special food to satisfy their insatiable hunger. They begin turning to other people to help feed their snake or start selling other people baby snakes to feed.

Eventually, they're forced to do whatever is necessary to find fresh meat for their snake. Lie, steal, kill -- that snake's got you by the throat. You'll either be fortunate enough to escape with your life or die in its vise-like grip.

I invite Buors to tour the wet and dry reservations in our province to see if he notices a qualitative difference in the people and their infrastructure. Go tell street people surrounding the fresh corpse in a puddle of puke that life would be so much better if there wasn't drug or alcohol prohibition.

Explain to inner-city kids who are hooked on crack that gang members wouldn't be renting them out to family men in minivans if 16-year-old prostitutes and bordellos were allowed to flourish in the suburbs.

Reassure Mr. Minivan's wife and kids that Daddy is just fine. Go preach your libertarian gospel to his lonely, wine-drinking wife who greets you at the door at 10 a.m. wearing a see-through negligee.

Welcome to the dark side, Mr. Buors.

GORDON WARREN

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 11, 2012 A17

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