LEGALIZATION OF DRUGS DESERVES CONSIDERATION

I am happy about the stand Rep. Patsy Mink has taken on the importance of
further study of medical cannabis, and am thankful she is on the drug
policy subcommittee. I don't think more research is needed, because people
should be able to put whatever they want into their own bodies as long as
it's not disturbing others.

Mink's subcommittee met recently on "The Pros and Cons of Drug
Legalization, Decriminalization and Harm Reduction." During the hearing, a
New York representative characterized legalization as "a surrender to
despair." In many aspects, the hearing was an effort to smear proposals for
drug policy reform, with the threatening tag of being "soft on drugs."

Many groups such as the Libertarian Party and Cato Institute have
well-researched, reasoned explanations of how legalization is a better
alternative to criminalization. I wish our elected officials could be more
open-minded when they look at what drug prohibition has done to our country.

We have lost the war on drugs and legalization is one option we should be
looking at.

Cynthia Verschuur Powell
Kaneohe
Via the Internet