DRUG LAWS

Re: July 29 letter "Handbaskets and hard time."

The letter writer is against people who feel drug offenders should not
be jailed because it's a victimless crime.

Take a look at our war on drugs and ask: Why is it that heroin addicts
must spend several hundred dollars a day to support their habit? The
inflated cost is due to our prohibition laws.

Who benefits? Drug cartels, law enforcement (big bureaucracies give
them jobs and power) and the private prison industry.

Who loses? The public (drugs are still available but the price drives
some addicts to crime) and the rule of law (a bonanza for organized
crime).

Drug prohibition doesn't work any better than did alcohol prohibition.
We need a sane drug legalization policy that recognizes that drugs
will always be available and provides treatment without
criminalization.

Steve Gerson,

Austin