The failed "war on drugs" should be abandoned

Does your state have a money shortfall?  Why not demand that illicit drugs be legalized and taxed?  Not kidding!
    Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Miron thinks California residents should not only approve legalizing marijuana when they go to the polls next month, but he says that should only be the beginning.
    All drugs should be legalized nationwide, Miron says.  Pot, cocaine, LSD, crystal-meth --- you name it.
    "Legalizing drugs would save roughly $41.3 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition. Of these savings, $25.7 billion would accrue to state and local governments, while $15.6 billion would accrue to the federal government," Miron claims in a recent Cato Institute report he co-authored.  Just say"Yes." 
    This subject is old hat to us.  For years we've been saying drugs presently sold in back alleys should be sold in drug stores and taxed, just as booze was brought out of the alleys in 1933 and sold in legal establishments.  
    We wrote this plank for the Radical Independent Party in 1994:          The failed "war on drugs" should be abandoned in favor of legal control. Under the present arrangement distribution of illicit drugs takes place in back alleys and other secretive places. Prices are high because of the risks involved, and the trade has drawn many young people into criminal activity. The RIP's recommendation: put drugs under the same control as alcohol and other poisons. Then establish a major national promotional campaign to increase awareness of the dangers of addictive substances, including alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, etc.
    No, we don't personally use any illicit substances.  Never even tried cannabis.  But we recognize a failed "drug war" when we see one.

Spotted this commentary on Wrisley.com. John is an octogenarian who recognizes a failed policy when he sees one. Why can't the rest of us see the common sense of legalization. Maybe it's because, as John likes to point out , that "common sense is not all that common."