LEGALISE DRUGS AND END THIS WASTE OF YOUNG LIVES

Sir: There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and
blanket legalisation. Switzerland's heroin maintenance
programme has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime
among chronic users. Providing addicts with standardised
doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the problems
associated with illicit heroin use.

Heroin maintenance pilot projects are under way in Canada, Germany,
Spain and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin
maintenance would deprive organised crime of a core client base. This
would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future
generations addiction.

Cannabis should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the
ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is
critical. As long as cannabis distribution remains in the hands of
organised crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will
continue to come into contact with sellers of cocaine and heroin.
Given that cannabis is arguably safer than alcohol, it makes no sense
to waste scarce resources on failed drug policies that finance
organised crime and facilitate the use of hard drugs.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, DC