I'm glad that Star columnist Rosie DiManno has taken up the cudgels to
advocate what some of us have been suggesting for years -- that drugs
be made available to all who want them (column, April 1).

The rationale is not a moral one but rather one of common sense;
anyone who wants drugs today can get them quite readily.

It isn't the availability of the drugs that creates the problem, it's
raising the cash to pay for them. To that end, the druggies will
steal, injure and, if necessary, murder.

They are going to get the drugs under any circumstances; it's just a
question of who gets hurt in the process.

Police sources have stated that 54 per cent of all crime is
drug-related. How can we continue to ignore that fact?

This isn't to say that there shouldn't be some strings attached, like
registering at a pharmacy or any other common sense steps.

But for heaven's sake, let us stop pouring money down an open sewer,
call a spade a spade and make a realistic move toward cutting down on
the criminal activities that hurt us all, when there is a simple,
albeit unpopular, solution to the problem.

William L. Tredrea
Pickering