LEGALIZE, AND CLOSE THE GATE

I'm writing about Bruce Mirken's outstanding letter, "Prohibition
Doesn't Work" [Feb. 2, City Weekly]. 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 Website:
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 United States.

They do not. The Dutch murder rate is less than one-third the United
States' per-capita murder rate, and their rate of incarceration is
about one-seventh of our 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 more dangerous drugs and who often offer
free samples of more dangerous drugs to their marijuana customers.
Thus, the gateway effect.

Legalize, regulate and control the sale of marijuana and we close the
gateway to hard drugs like meth.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.