ACTUALLY, POT CREATES A ROADBLOCK TO HARD-DRUG USE

Editor:

Regarding Foulds' outstanding column: Suppose another country had
almost no drug problem. Suppose that country had less than a small
fraction of one per cent of your drug arrests. And suppose that
country had almost no "drug-related crime" and suppose that their
robbery rate was a tiny fraction of your robbery rate.

Do you think it might be wise to carefully observe that other
country's drug policy and that you should model their drug policy?

Well, there is such a country: the Czech Republic.

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

The Czech Republic's 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 Republic's overall crime rate is a tiny fraction of the U.
S. crime rate and, I suspect, a tiny fraction of the Canadian crime
rate as well.

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

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, and not a gateway?

Could it be that the vast majority our so-called "drug-related crime"
is caused by marijuana-prohibition policies?

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.