LEGALIZATION WOULD NEUTER GANGS

Editor;

Re: Lilly Kopp's letter (Peace Arch News, May 13)

When we consider adverse effects of a drug on an individual and a
community, a distinction must be made between the effects of the drug
and the effects brought on by prohibition.

The use of any drug will have side effects such as brain damage and
would exist regardless of the legality of the substance. Things like
theft, gang violence, deaths, spread of disease and organized crime
are all results of prohibition.

No one wants their child using drugs and many feel prohibition lowers
drug use. In the U.S., which has a strict drug policy, the lifetime
prevalence of marijuana use in 2002 was 36.9 per cent (U.S. Department
of Health Services). When this is compared to the Netherlands, which
legalized marijuana, they achieve only a lifetime prevalence 17 per
cent (Trimbos Institute 2002).

It seems legality has little to do with frequency of
use.

Drugs aren?'t made illegal because of their consequences on health;
historically illegalization has almost exclusively occurred because of
social and political pressures. This is illustrated by our current
tobacco laws and the devastating effect tobacco has on health.

I want what is best for our community and I do not believe our system
is anywhere near achieving this.

Legalization has many forms, several of which can be seen in
regulation of drugs from caffeine and alcohol to morphine. One such
form could be that to receive a prescription for the drug a heroin
user would have mandatory addiction treatment with a
psychologist.

No matter what route legalization would take, one of the most
beneficial outcomes would be that gangs would no longer profit and
would have no reason to continue pushing them on children.

Jeff Harrison

Surrey