PURSUING DRUG TRAFFICKERS IS NO WAY TO CURB CRIME

A recent letter suggested that "the problem in the past with shutting down
Baltimore's open-air drug markets is that suppliers and consumers simply
shuffle to another nearby location . . ."

The solution, it said, is for the police to "shut down the illegal pharmacy
before it has the opportunity to set up shop" ("Police must do more than
just move drug markets," Dec. 29).

As a shop cannot be shut down before it is set up, I assume the writer meant
this satirically, as a comment on the proven futility of decades of drug
prohibition.

If we wish to eliminate the crime that comes with drug prohibition (which is
the vast majority of violent crime in the city), then we have two choices.

We can treat currently illegal drugs the way we treat alcohol and tobacco:
tax and regulate their sale.

Or we can have the government take over the drug market and distribute drugs
at cost.

If, however, we wish to continue to be victimized by violent crime, and
attempt to imprison the one in eight adults in Baltimore who is a drug
addict, then we can continue drug prohibition.