DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT STRATEGIES

Dear Editor,

I'm writing about Colleen Minter's outstanding letter (Letters, April
16) about the harms and dangers of our drug prohibition policies.

I'd like to add that there is only one country in the world that is
actually winning the drug war: The Czech Republic. And they use
dramatically different strategies to do so.

The Czech Republic is the only country in the world where adult
citizens can legally use, possess and grow small quantities of
marijuana. (In the Netherlands, marijuana is quasi-legal - not
officially legal.)

The Czech overall drug arrest rate is 1 per 100,000 population. The
United States' overall drug arrest rate is 585 per 100,000 population.
The Czech robbery rate is two per 100,000 population. The United
States' robbery rate is 145.9 per 100,000 population, according to our
FBI.

According to our drug war cheerleaders, tolerant marijuana laws cause
people to use other, much more dangerous drugs, like methamphetamine
and heroin. Obviously, this doesn't happen in the Czech Republic. Why
not?

Could it be that when people can legally obtain marijuana at an
affordable price, they tend not to use or desire any other
recreational drugs? Could it be that marijuana legalization actually
creates a roadblock to hard drug use - not a gateway?

Could it be that the vast majority our so-called "drug-related crime"
is caused by our marijuana prohibition policies?

KIRK MUSE

Mesa, Ariz.