LEGALIZE AND TAX RECREATIONAL DRUGS

Re: the Jan. 6 article "City police target crimes of property."

I'd like to add that many judges and prison wardens have said 70
percent to 90 percent of our violent crime and property crime is
"drug-related."

Actually, almost 100 percent of our so-called "drug-related crime" is
caused by our drug criminalization policies - not the drugs themselves.

When pure pharmaceutical-grade Bayer heroin was legally available in
local pharmacies for about the same price as Bayer aspirin, the term
"drug-related crime" didn't exist. Nor did drug lords, drug cartels or
drug dealers as we know them today.

Almost all the problems we have with illegal drugs are because certain
drugs are illegal.

Because certain drugs are illegal, they are of unknown quality, purity
and potency - just like alcohol was when it was illegal.

And just like alcohol when it was illegal, recreational drugs are
untaxed, unregulated and controlled by criminal gangs.

For the sake of our children, we need to regulate, control and tax all
types of recreational drugs.

Only legal products of any kind can be regulated, controlled and taxed
by governments.

Kirk Muse

Mesa