Linky Love!

Acidman has three posts that perfectly describe the failure of prohibition. Just so people can get it into their heads....

Prohibition.
Doesn't
Work!

The health nazis in Washington State instituted a 150% tax on tobacco products a couple of years ago. They all nodded to themselves about how smart they were, and the tax money was supposed to go to low-income health care (yeah, right!). So they play their little games, and then smirk as tobacco sales decline drastically. They then draft up a study to show how much smarter they are, (Look at what we did! We told you the little people would dance to our tune!) and what they found out was that 40% of the tobacco being smoked in Washington was smuggled in from other states.

DUH!

It's a hop, skip, and a jump to either Oregon or Idaho. There's a truckstop in Post Falls, ID that I stop at when I visit my parents in Coeur d' Alene. They have a booming business. $24 a carton for Camels, vs. $40 a carton in Washington. People just drive across the state line and buy their smokes. Hell, I load up on cigars when I'm over there, and normally I buy two or three cartons of smokes for my buddy. If the communists in Olympia want to jack up taxes, then the people will find a way to get around them. Same with gas. Washington has one of the highest gas taxes in the country. I believe it's around 34-38 cents per gallon. The gas stations on the state border saw their business drop once it was cheaper to drive a few miles to get gas. I know one man who has a 500 gallon gas tank in the bed of his truck. He drives 20 miles, fills it up, and drives home, where he can pump gas into all his vehicles. He told me it saves him about $100 per fill-up. (that's 20 cents difference in price X 500 gallons)

When are people going to learn? Prohibition, either by legislation or taxation, DOESN'T WORK!