TOUGH DRUG POLICIES ADD TO CRIME RATES

To the editor:

I'm writing about Robert Sharpe's outstanding letter of March 4: "Limiting
illegal drugs increases street crime."

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.

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 to hard drugs.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.