Drug Addicts

PROVIDE FREE PRESCRIPTIONS

From all appearances, the Million Moms March was a successful challenge to
Congress to do something to stop the killing of children by the use of guns.

Not to take anything away from the march, I would like to suggest that the
terror expressed by many of the people involved has been brought about by
the so-called "war on drugs."

The gang warfare, the muggings, burglaries, home invasions, carjackings and
other acts of violence in America are due to addicts engaging in crime to
get enough money to buy drugs. In turn, law-abiding citizens are buying
guns to protect themselves. Now, America is awash in guns, with many of
them available to children.

There is a way to stop putting more and more people in prison on
drug-related charges: Take the money out of selling drugs.

That can be done, as has been proved in Great Britain, by getting the drug
addicts to get a prescription for what a doctor decides is an adequate
amount of drugs and having that prescription filled at a government
dispensary absolutely free.

There is, therefore, no use in a drug seller getting a person addicted to
drugs. As soon as the person becomes an addict, he can get his drugs
absolutely free from a government dispensary, which may cost $1,000 a year
compared to the $30,000 a year that it costs to keep an addict in prison.

Besides, an addict getting free drugs does not have to engage in criminal
activity to get the money to buy drugs.

David B. Higginbottom, attorney, Frostproof