LEGALIZE DOPE

DeForest Rathbone rightly laments the thousands of deaths caused each
year by drug abuse but wrongly asserts that legalizing drugs "would
drive that horrific statistic much higher" ("Don't legalize dope,"
Letters, Monday). On the contrary, it's the current system of
prohibition that keeps this statistic inhumanely high. If drugs were
legalized, addicts would more readily seek treatment. Also, suppliers
would be under competitive and legal pressures not only to ensure the
quality of their products, but to standardize information about
dosages.

Furthermore, sellers would lose incentives to push drugs to
schoolchildren. Anyone who doubts this claim should ask himself when
he last saw Anheuser-Busch or Seagram's peddling their intoxicating
wares on schoolyards.

Donald J. Boudreaux

Chairman Department of Economics

George Mason University

Fairfax