ILLOGICAL TO DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS

It is ironic that Mr. Byron in his Nov. 22 Saturday Soapbox letter used the
75th anniversary of the ending of prohibition of alcohol to advance the
decriminalization of street drugs. I presume that this includes cannabis,
cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and combinations thereof -- a notion that
is either naive, wantonly self-serving or just plain galactically stupid.

While decriminalization might magically transform criminals into
law-abiding citizens, it would not so magically transform addicts. Forget
making "fewer criminals"; let's make fewer addicts.

The irony of Mr. Byron's citing the end of prohibition is that alcohol
remains the one mood-altering drug most responsible for emergency room
visits, police contacts and family disputes -- not heroin, not
methamphetamine. Alcohol-related diseases remain the most preventable
killer, while that other legal, mood-altering drug, tobacco, has its own
body count.

Street drugs, especially marijuana, are not benign. Decriminalizing their
possession in any quantity would create more access to persons susceptible
to addiction.

The logic of decriminalization is pure dope.

Glenn V. Hoyt

Sedro-Woolley