DRUG MAINTENANCE AND LEGALIZATION COULD MAKE ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING
UNPROFITABLE

Regarding Your Jan. 17 Editorial, There Is a Middle Ground Between
Failed Drug Prohibition and Feared Drug Legalization.

Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce
disease, death and crime among chronic users. Providing addicts with
standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the
problems associated with heroin use.

Heroin maintenance pilot projects are under way in Canada, England,
Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin
maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This
would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future
generations addiction.

Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without
the ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets
is critical. As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands
of organized crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will
continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like
cocaine. Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol,
it makes no sense to waste scarce resources on failed policies that
finance organized crime and facilitate the use of hard drugs.

Drug policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like
to think the children are more important than the message.

Robert Sharpe, MPA, policy analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.