LESS TOUGH, MORE TOLERANCE - THE ANSWER?

To the Editor:

I'm writing about Gay Caswell's not-so-thoughtful letter: "World would
be better without cocaine" (6-12-08).

If tough-on-drugs policies worked, the idealistic goal of a drug free
America would have been reached a long time ago.

And if tolerant marijuana policies caused more hard drug use and
crime, the Czech Republic would have much higher rates of hard drug
use and crime.

They do not.

The Czech Republic is the only country in the world where adult
citizens can legally use, purchase, possess and grow small quantities
of marijuana. (In the Netherlands, marijuana is quasi-legal - not
officially legal.)

The Czech overall drug arrest rate is one per 100,000 population. The
United States' overall drug arrest rate is 585 per 100,000 population.
The Czech robbery rate is two per 100,000 population. The United
States' robbery rate is 160.2 per 100,000 population, according to our
FBI.

According to our drug war cheerleaders, tolerant marijuana laws cause
people to use other, much more dangerous drugs, like meth, heroin and
cocaine.

Obviously, this doesn't happen in the Czech Republic. Why
not?

Could it be that when people can legally obtain marijuana at an
affordable price, they tend not to use or desire any other
recreational drugs?

Could it be that marijuana legalization actually creates a roadblock
to hard drug use - not a gateway?

Want to make cocaine almost disappear? Re-legalize
marijuana.

KIRK MUSE

Mesa, AZ.