DRUGS: PROOF EVERYWHERE

Dear Editor,

A recent writer wondered about "proof" that drug legalization or regulation
would coincide with a decrease in crime [Legalization results without
proof, Oct. 1 Letters to the Editor, Langley Advance News].

The writer gets credit for his critical thinking, but not historical research.

Historical evidence, including the regulation of alcohol and many
once-legal-but-now-illegal products, demonstrates that the black market,
which arises immediately after a thing is outlawed, gives rise to violence
as the items become more and more valuable and suppliers fight to maintain
profits.

Historical evidence exists with drugs themselves. Once, all drugs were
legal, and there were no organized crime rings distributing and profiting
from them. Cannabis was grown and processed and sold as medicine, as were
poppies and dozens of other "drugs."

No sooner were these drugs outlawed than violent black marketing appeared
to distribute them - and still remains to this day.

Legalization or regulation of soft drugs like cannabis, and the
medicalization of hard drugs, won't solve all of humanity's problems with
crime, but according to historical evidence, it will help, while at the
same time allowing us to more appropriately deal with drug addiction and
disease.

It is time for something different, because prohibition has failed to
eliminate or significantly reduce crime or drug addiction.

Jim White
Oregon, Ohio, USA