DRUG WAR FUTILE

To the editor:

Re: Gwynne Dyer's column, Struggle Against The War On Drugs, in the
Jan. 7 Sunday Daily News.

There is a middle ground between prohibition and blanket legalization
of drugs. 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 underway 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 alcohol - which is legal -
it makes no sense to waste scarce resources on failed policies that
finance organized crime and facilitate the use of hard drugs.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.