LEGALIZE DRUGS TO REDUCE CRIME

I thought the repeal of Prohibition indicated that America had
realized that outlawing alcohol only funded the gangs that made
themselves rich and filled their neighbourhoods with violence and
crime. Why are they so blinkered regarding the criminalizing of drugs?

If the average addict requires $1,000 a week to pay for the drugs he
needs, it is obvious he can only obtain it by theft, unless he is a
highly paid lawyer or businessman.

When I lived in the U.K., the few drug addicts we saw on the streets
were lining up near midnight outside an all-night pharmacy to obtain
their next day's prescribed drugs. In those days the police did not
carry guns and the streets were safer.

If drugs were available in pharmacies, produced with standard strength
and pharmaceutical purity for those who wish to wreck their own lives,
the rest of us could lead our lives more safely and police could give
more attention to other matters.

Arresting people for buying, selling or using marijuana while others
can legally drink themselves into drunken rage is illogical. Legalize
it, tax it and B.C. will be rich. The savings in police, court and
incarceration costs could be better put toward the treatment of those
who are addicted who want to give it up.

Farmers in Afghanistan and elsewhere can grow their poppies and sell
their crops to the pharmaceutical companies who make morphine. The
drug lords, like Al Capone, will be out of business.

Vivien Tarkirk-Smith

Nanaimo