YOUR NEWSPAPER COURAGEOUS

I don't usually read out-of-town newspapers, but I came across Scott Burns'
column looking at drug prohibition ("Drugs cast shadow on border cities,"
March 21) on the Internet. He concludes that there is a way to stop the
violence surrounding the illegal drug market.

I applaud your newspaper for daring to print such a controversial column,
which suggests the patently obvious (and blatantly politically incorrect)
solution to this problem of drug-related violence is to get rid of the huge
profits drugs reliably earn. Leave it to a business columnist!

He writes that rather than adhering to the policy of prohibition in our
counterproductive War on Drugs (which, if successful, increases the price of
drugs) we need to "Have the guts to realize that we are awash in substance
abuse and that the legality or illegality of substances are transitory
social conventions that allow criminals to make fortunes, cost the lives of
substance abusers and inflict agony on their loved ones." The column seems
to be saying that drug-related violence is created by dealers simply
motivated by incredibly lucrative profits, and that after illicit drugs
become no longer illicit they won't be so expensive and drug-related
violence will end. If the legal availability of every drug is merely
determined by "transitory social conventions," then common sense also tells
us that if heroin were suddenly legalized, chances are pretty good most of
us probably wouldn't run down to the drug store this afternoon and pick up a
dose or two.

Congratulations once again to The Dallas Morning News for publishing
revolutionary and provocative ideas.

Andrew Seidenfeld, Jersey City, N.J.