REAL CRIMINALS ARE DRUG USERS

Joel Pett's Feb. 18 cartoon displayed a total ignorance of the laws
of supply and demand and the use of drugs by inferring that dealers
cause drug addiction.

While there might be some limited truth in this, actually the user
causes the market to flourish. If there were no users, there would be
no demand, and therefore, the sale of illegal drugs would dry up.

While the selling of illegal drugs is certainly a crime, the real
criminal who facilitates the sale of drugs is the user. The reason
government programs fail to get rid of this mess is that they
concentrate on catching and punishing the seller not the user. Forget
the seller and jail the users; drug traffic would certainly dry up.

If OxyContin is a prescribed drug and it is overprescribed, there are
adequate FDA laws on the books to handle that problem.

However, if it is just a misuse problem by the user, the doctor can
cut off the supply but can't control the illegal supply. This becomes
law enforcement's job, and removal of the user from the system will
solve it.

Further, the price of all drugs, illegal or otherwise, is determined
by demand on the available supply. If there is a fixed supply and the
demand goes up, the price will go up. Just plain all-American
economics.

Donald R. Fugette

Lexington