Sir, – Chris Johns makes the case that Ireland would make €400 million a year in tax by legalising cannabis ("Marijuana tax yield may prove the final blow to war on drugs", Business Opinion, March 14th).
Surely it is time for Enda Kenny to show that Ireland could really be the best small country in the world in which to do “cannabusiness”? Can we afford to miss this opportunity?
Considering that the president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, is a Nobel Prize nominee for his innovative lead in moving away from the failed “war on drugs” and that Uruguay’s health system has now been placed in the top three countries in the world, surely Minister for Health James Reilly will lend support to this idea?
If given the nudge, President Michael D Higgins might be persuaded to champion this initiative by contacting his counterpart in Uruguay who – as it happens – lives just off the O’Higgins Road near Montevideo!
Crucially, Michael O’Leary could annoy Aer Lingus by emblazoning the cannabis leaf on aircraft – a branding symbol of Ryanair’s nicer, more relaxed flying experience. – Yours, etc,
JUNE O’REILLY,
Lecturer in Communication,
Cork Institute
of Technology,
Bishopstown,
Cork.
Sir, – As a long-time campaigner for the decriminalisation of all drugs, I found the article by Chris Johns the best and most coherent on the subject that I’ve ever read.
It should be read and digested by all our TDs, and not just Luke “Ming” Flanagan.
All the illegal drugs should be given the same status as alcohol and tobacco.
Many advantages would follow – gardaí relieved of wild-goose chasing after drug dealers; criminals deprived of their greatest source of cash; and bad mixes, the greatest hazard facing addicts, eliminated by quality control.
Some of the cash raised should be used to provide the best clinical treatment for addicts and even engage the services of a top advertising agency with the remit to trash the image of all drugs.
If they can sell us a macho image for one drug, alcohol, then they can sell us anything. – Yours, etc,
JAMES MORAN,
Knockanure,
Bunclody,
Co Wexford.