MORALITY, DUTCH STYLE

Darnell Charlton ("Plenty of victims," Aug. 15) wrote to disagree with Pat
Skidmore, after Ms. Skidmore wrote to say that police should not pose as
drug dealers and prostitutes in order to entrap customers.

Mr. Charlton said, "If she had a family member die as a result of doing
drugs, I'm sure she'd feel differently. If she had a family member acquire
AIDS as a result of prostitution, I'm sure she'd feel differently."

I'm not so sure. Look at the Netherlands, where almost no one goes to jail
for drug use, and prostitution is legal. The Dutch have the lowest rate of
overdose death in Europe and the lowest rate of AIDS infection.

Ever-increasing overdose deaths and AIDS infections are just two of the
unintended consequences of our attempt to legislate morality. Time to get
smart.

RAY ALDRIDGE, Ft. Walton Beach, Florida