Crack Tax

If you can't beat it, tax it:

A US state's tax on drug dealers has brought in nearly $2 million in its first year. Under the scheme, drug dealers are expected to pay taxes on illegal drugs and alcohol.

All money made from the stamps goes to fighting drugs.

Scoff if you like, but Piers Anthony wrote an essay many years ago, (I believe it was for Omni magazine), in which he suggested the most effective way to fight drug abuse was to legalize everything and then tax the hell out of it. The tax proceeds would be used to set up public treatment centers.

The idea is that people who are going to destroy their lives on this stuff are going to do so anyway, legal or not. Ditto for killing themselves via overdose. By regulating and taxing it, you can at least control the impact it has on society.

There is, of course, a flaw in this plan: politicians. Give a politician another source of tax revenue, and he'll invariably find a way to leverage it in the manner that most favors his pocketbook.

Still, it's a nice idea. It's just that it requires a certain degree of integrity and commitment to the public good--qualities which have been noticeably absent from Washington, D.C. for many decades now.