It’s been a long tome in coming but the man charged with setting drug policy for the Province of BC has finally come out and asked for dialogue on the outright and total legalization of drugs in the Province.While the feds and the core group of prohibitionists in the US of A will complain that this will spell the end of our civilization.It is been quite clear from programs in countries like Portugal,which they always claim would never work here.That making drugs a health issue and not a criminal one have led to far less harm and far less drug use.Especially amongst the age group wherein we have our worst problems,the very young.Kids in early secondary school in Portugal now see drugs as a serious problem and as the health issue it really is.This is exactly what the anti prohibition forces have claimed for years and is the one thing their opponent always sight as being the main reason that prohibition is so necessary.If this premise is so very misguided,then why isn’t the whole idea of prohibition a thing of the past?The police,prison guards,lawyers,prosecutors,the courts,prohibition,parole,the list is endless.There is also,I’m sorry to say,an element in the drug community that prefers that the law stays as it is for obvious reasons.The problem,as I see it,is to make the results of the change in Portugal,common knowledge and to cut through the total misinformation that has propped the prohibition of drugs up for over 100 years now.People seem to be under the impression that drug laws are ancient and that they were put into place for reasons other than what the reality shows.With the possible exception of the more recent drug laws,brought about during the height of the paranoia and the hyperbole,drug laws wee brought into being for racist and corporate reasons.The original drug laws came about in Victorian times at the same time as the blue laws and alcohol prohibition came about at the tail end of all this.It didn’t last because the users were white and very wealthy,as well as the rest of us,who have never had any influence.Drugs were in common use for millennia and were never seen as a problem,as they were necessary to keep the troops happy.War has always been a big motivator in this world and during war,drug laws are always forgotten.Any study of ancient troop movements will reveal rampant drug use amongst not only the ordinary line soldiers but also amongst the elite.Alcohol was a favourite,as was opium,hashish,cannabis,mushrooms and whatever the local intoxicant was in the area being contested.This constant warring was the way drugs were brought from the far ends of the earth.They are an excellent way to relax and if the cost isn’t altered out of all proportion by their being made illegal,a fairly cheap way to blow off steam.If drugs are widely available,people are aware of their pluses and minuses and the number of addicts is kept to that ½% of people who will become addicted to a drug or alcohol no matter what.The tremendous cost that has been incurred to have that number remain constant is appalling.The horrendous cost in lives and prisons and ruined lives from being in prison far outweighs any possible benefit that could come from lessening the number of addicts.Something that has never been accomplished and never will.We have wasted at least two generations and countless billions on a wasted and counter productive drug war.It has increased both availability and rates of addiction.Costs have steadily decreased with the exception of cannabis,which everyone does and no one cares about but the hard core prohibitionists.Unfortunately,they are the politicians and the super rich.They seem to get what they want.They and the lobby for prisons,cops,the legal system and all others who profit from the cash and the thrill of high level drug trafficking.The rest of us just pay.