Dear Editor,

The dangers of drug use and abuse are compounded (some created) by the
drug laws rather than the drugs themselves.

If addicts could get their drugs from a medical practicioner who is
specially trained in treating drug abusers, it would cut down the
deaths from overdose, impurities and poisons that are routinely used
to increase the drug sellers' profits.

If we look at the history of drug prohibition, we will see an increase
in deaths associated with drugs, violence over the huge profits that
are directly related to the drug laws, as well as increases in the
number of drug users and the severity of the drugs they use. In
alcohol prohibition people who drank beer found it was easier (and
often cheaper) to buy hard liquor instead.

In drug prohibition people who used to use or would choose to use
opium, a natural plant and not nearly as potent as heroin.

Heroin is small and relatively easy to hide. Opium is bulky and
difficult to hid. The penalties for opium and heroin are basically the
same so the drug dealers choose the more profitable and easier to
secret heroin while the less dangerous opium disappears from the
marketplace.

The drug wars are counterproductive. They cause more harm than the
drugs they claim to eliminate.

Yours truly, Robert Shiller