SHALL WE GO DUTCH?

I'm writing about Clare Hanrahan's outstanding commentary ["Failed Drug War
Won't Protect Our Children," April 6].

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: 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 United States.

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 the gateway effect.

Legalize, regulate and control the sale of marijuana, and we close the
gateway. Re-legalize all types of recreational drugs, and we will make the
term "drug-related crime" obsolete.

- - Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz.