The next time someone tells you that we need to fight the drug war to stop violent crime, tell them to read a little book called "Illicit Drugs and Crime" by Bruce Benson and David Rasmusssen, Professors of Economics at Florida State University.

The duo compared Florida, which spent big bucks on beefing up its drug war between '84 and '89, with Kansas, which did not. Their 60 page report concludes that "Kansas' relatively modest involvement in the nationwide drug war has resulted in its citizens being relatively safe from crime."

They explain that "reality mandates that when scarce resources are used to do one thing, they cannot be used to do something else..." Because the diversion of resources into drug crimes led to a "reduced probability of arrest" for robbery or burglary, "the property crime rate in Florida rose 16.3 percent from 1983 to 1989. Since 1989, Florida has reduced its drug enforcement efforts, and its property crime rate has fallen."

Although the report does mention the fact that jailing huge numbers of people for drug offences only leads to violent criminals being released to make room for them, it doesn't cover the many acts of police fraud, theft and violence that are also an inevitable part of any war on drugs. Nevertheless it is a comprehensive report, and hey, maybe they'll do a sequel.

For more information, or to get your own copy of the report, call the Independent Institute in California at (510) 632-1366, fax (510) 568-6040, or email independ@dnai.com.

As an addendum to the post about urine testing by Toronto Dominion Bank, I now provide you with their web page and email address (their 'green info line' - what delicious irony!)

Give 'em hell!

greeninfoline@tdbank.ca
www.tdbank.ca