LEGALIZE POT AND CONTROL GATEWAY

I'm writing about your thoughtful editorial: "Longer
sentences won't reduce crime" (April 10).

I'd like to add that if tough-on-drugs policies worked, the quixotic
goal of a drug-free America would have been reached a long time ago.
And if tolerant drug policies created more drug use, the Netherlands
would have much higher drug usage rates than the United States.

They do not.

In fact, the Dutch use marijuana and other recreational drugs at much
lower rates than Americans do. See the web site:
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm.
And if tolerant drug policies caused more overall crime, especially
violent crime, the Dutch would have much higher crime rates than the
U.S.

They do not.

The Dutch murder rate is less than one-third the U.S. per capita
murder rate and their rate of incarceration is about one-seventh the
U.S. incarceration rate.

In the Netherlands, marijuana is sold to adults without criminal
sanctions in coffee shops. In the United States, marijuana is sold by
criminals who often sell other, much more dangerous drugs, and who
often offer free samples of the more dangerous drugs to their
marijuana customers, thus creating the so-called gateway effect.

Legalize, regulate and control the sale of marijuana and you close the
gateway.

Kirk Muse / Mesa, AZ