DRUG USE WOULD LESSEN IF IT WERE LEGALIZED

Daniel McElwain Jr. ["Legalize marijuana? You must be hallucinating!" May
21], has many good suggestions about protecting our children from drug use
in school.

However, he is living in la-la land if he thinks legalizing drugs would
encourage children to use them.

Drugs are illegal now. The reason they are available everywhere is because
of the money involved.

Prohibition is a useful example. People made fortunes rum running, no one
stopped drinking, and the gangster era began.

If drugs were legal and people could purchase them at a reasonable cost,
the traffic would dry up, the glamour would evaporate, and of course there
would be addicts, just as there are alcoholics now.

Treatment would be available and encouraged, as it is now.

I have news for Mr. McElwain. Drugs are illegal, as is alcohol for anyone
under 21. Perhaps he hasn't noticed that many youths drink, take drugs,
and abuse substances.

The profits go to the dealers who are available everywhere. Take out the
money and see what happens.

Judith Murray

Locust Grove