DRUG LAWS MADE PROBLEMS WORSE

In response to "Drug advocates reject common sense" (July 3, Letters):
Even the people who wrote the original drug laws agreed that the U.S.
government had no constitutional power to govern what people put into
their bodies. That's why the drug laws originally were written as "tax
acts." It is also why a constitutional amendment was required to
prohibit alcohol.

If drug-induced violence is the writer's concern, then she should know
that alcohol accounts for about half of all deaths from homicide, auto
accidents, fires and drownings; half of all domestic abuse; and about
two-thirds of all sexual assaults on children. Alcohol causes more
problems in society than all the illegal drugs combined. It always has
and it always will.

If any drug should be banned because it is dangerous, then alcohol is
the obvious first choice. But we tried that and it only made things
worse. As bad as alcohol is, making it a crime only created more
problems. The same is true for the other drugs.

CLIFFORD SCHAFFER

director, DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy

Agua Dulce