LEGALIZATION NOT THE ANSWER

Dear Editor,

Russell Barth's argument to legalize and regulate drugs [Drugs: Legalizing
would stop gangs, March 26 Letters, www.langleyadvance.com] is one that many
should find offensive. He believes that the police do not want to legalize
drugs because that would result in budget cuts and layoffs.

Unlike Barth, I do not believe all police men and women are trying to
trick the public into giving them money by making us believe that
"crime is a bigger issue than it is." For the most part, I know the
police are out there doing the best they can to protect the citizens
of our cities, and accusing our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers,
aunts, and uncles of perceiving crime as a threat in order to keep
their jobs and acquire more money for "powers of intrusion and
coercion" is insulting.

Legalizing drugs and selling them in coffee shops, with the "harder
drugs being sold in pharmacies and clinics, and discreet brothels to
get the prostitution off the streets and reduce slavery" would be
sending out the wrong message to children.

Although I agree with the many cases made to promote the legalization
of marijuana, I feel it is less than necessary to legalize the harder,
more harmful drugs. Allowing hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin to
be sold in pharmacies and clinics is criminal. Because of the easy
addiction to these drugs, opening them up to the general public as
accepted substances would cause an increase in the number of addicts
living in our community.

Many of the adverse health effects of the hard drugs are widely known,
as many are taught in high schools. Especially after the education the
children and teenagers receive, legalizing drugs would give them
contradicting views.

For the most part, the only crime that would be reduced are the ones
specifically associated with drug use, such as trafficking and
dealing. While drugs like marijuana generally need a large space to be
produced, others such as crystal meth only need a small space, such as
a kitchen, using household chemicals in the formation of the drug.

There are way too many drugs that are used recreationally to be first
recognized and then legalized. It is very unlikely that legalizing
drugs would solve or reduce crime, considering many legal drugs sold
in pharmacies are being re-distributed illegally.

They will still have drugs to distribute and fight over, especially if
the currently illegal drugs are heavily taxed, leaving many poor and
addicted people to find cheaper means (the gangs) to acquire their
drugs. In the off chance it would reduce gang activity, it would still
have many unfavourable circumstances.

Bryanna Anderson,
Langley