YOU MAY SAY THEY'RE BOTH DREAMERS

Imagine if our overall crime rate was a small fraction of our current
crime rate [Slant, "The Cost of Dying," David Faris, Feb. 15, 2007].
We once had such a situation here in the United States. Prior to the
Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, "drug-related crime" didn't exist.
Drug lords, drug cartels and even drug dealers, as we know them
today, didn't exist, either. Back then, all types of recreational
drugs were legally sold to anybody with no questions asked, for
pennies per dose in grocery stores and pharmacies. Did we have a lot
more drug addicts then, compared to now? No.

For the sake of our children, can we re-legalize our now-illegal
drugs and sell them to licensed business establishments? This would
put the drug lords out of business overnight. And this would
eliminate the lure of the "forbidden fruit" that makes drugs so
attractive to children.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.