Editor's note: The Times received many letters concerning the City
Council resolution including language about discussing legalization
of drugs. Some of these were written before the resolution veto was upheld.

MIDDLE GROUND

Regarding your Jan. 8 editorial, there is a middle ground between
drug prohibition and blanket legalization.

Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce
disease, death and crime among chronic users.

Providing addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting
eliminates many of the problems associated with heroin use. Heroin
maintenance pilot projects are under way in Canada, Germany, Spain
and the Netherlands.

If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organized
crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin
trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction.

Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without
the ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets
is critical. As long as marijuana distribution is controlled by
organized crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will
continue to come into contact with sellers of addictive drugs.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes
no sense to waste tax dollars on failed policies that finance
organized crime and facilitate hard-drug use.

Drug policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like
to think the children are more important than the message.

Robert Sharpe

policy analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy