LEGALIZE CANNABIS

I'm writing about Anthony Lorenzo's outstanding letter: "Legalize, tax
cannabis" (March 16).

It seems to me that to solve our nation's drug problems, we should
model the drug policies of another nation with little or no drug
problem. I suggest that we model the Czech Republic's drug policies.
The Czech Republic is the only nation 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 one 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 the
FBI.

According to our drug war cheerleaders, tolerant marijuana laws cause
people to use other, much more dangerous drugs, like meth 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?

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz