GIVING ADDICTS DRUGS MAKES SENSE

Re: Give Addicts Hope, Not Drugs, letter to the editor, May 3. Your
letter writer warns against loosening drug law. Let's look at the
facts. In 2001, Portugal abolished all criminal penalties for
personal possession of all drugs, with the rates of drug use and
abuse then falling.

In 1994, Switzerland started an experimental program to sell heroin
addicts the drug at very low cost, even giving it to the addicts who
couldn't afford it. In 2008, 68% of the Swiss voted to make the
program permanent. Again heroin-addiction rates fell -- dramatically.
So has the country's overall crime rate.

Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz.