RE: THE comments under Alan Randell's April 29 letter stating: "Legalizing
drugs would kill more people and cause more crime." Using your logic, we
could cut down on the number of deaths attributed to alcohol and tobacco
simply by making them illegal. Come to think of it, 100,000 deaths in the
U.S. are caused by prescription drugs. Should we make them illegal as well?
I am sure the reason Prohibition was revoked was to reduce the amount of
deaths and crime associated it and, guess what? It worked!

D. L. Harper

(So are you saying we should we just legalize everything?)

REWRITE THE laws on organized crime? (Letters, April 24). At what expense?
The far-reaching effects of allowing the government to intrude to the level
required to win the war on (some) drugs should be carefully considered. The
level of intrusion required would revert the country to a military state.
It is simply not feasible to conduct a zero-tolerance drug policy in a free
society like ours.

Greg Handevidt

(More effective legislation can clobber the mobsters without resorting to
martial law.)

THE REPLY to letter writer Alan Randall (April 29) states legalizing drugs
would kill more people and cause more crime. Most drug deaths in Canada are
the result of heroin overdoses as the purity of street heroin is
inconsistent. Most crimes are committed to feed drug habits and line the
pockets of black market drug dealers. No one wants heroin in society, but
our current approach encourages overdoses, prostitution and property crimes.

Mike Foster

(Legalizing drugs is not the answer.)