PUB LTE: POLICY, NOT WAR, EASES DRUG PROBLEMS

RE: 'Police vow to stamp out muggings' (Feb. 20). Speaking on behalf
of a U.S.-based advisory group on drug problems, I think Hamilton
Police Chief Ken Robertson misunderstands the relationship between
violence and the growing crack cocaine problem in Hamilton.

If Robertson succeeds in reducing the supply of crack while demand
remains constant, the street price will skyrocket. Desperate crack
addicts will then increase criminal activity to feed desperate
habits. With cocaine trafficking made more profitable, new dealers
will quickly replace those taken off the streets.

The drug war effectively fuels crime.

This is not to say that crack should be legalized; there are
cost-effective alternatives that do not involve legalizing hard drugs.

Despite dramatically lower per capita spending on the drug problem,
the Netherlands has successfully reduced overall drug use by
replacing marijuana prohibition with regulation.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets and establishing controls
for age has proved more effective than zero tolerance.

As the most popular illicit drug in Canada, marijuana provides the
black market contacts that introduce users to drugs like crack. The
"gateway" status ascribed to marijuana is the direct result of a
fundamentally flawed policy.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes
no sense to perpetuate drug policies that finance organized crime and
facilitate the use of hard drugs.

The Washington-based Lindesmith Center - Drug Policy Foundation is a
drug policy organization working to broaden and better inform the
public debate on drug policy and related issues. The Lindesmith
Center, created in 1994, is the leading independent drug policy
institute in the United States. The Drug Policy Foundation, founded
in 1987, represents over 25,000 supporters who favour alternatives to
the current war on drugs and is the principal membership-based
organization advocating for drug policy reform. The two organizations
merged on July 1, 2000, with the objective of building a national
drug policy reform movement.

Persons wishing more information are encouraged to visit our Web site
at www.drugpolicy.org

- -- Robert Sharpe, Washington, D.C.,

Program Officer,

The Lindesmith Center

- - Drug Policy Foundation