HOW TO CUT CRIME, SAVE LIVES AND AID POLICE: LEGALIZE METH

I'm writing about the Herald's thoughtful editorial, "Citizens can fight
back against meth".

If Desoxyn, the legal pharmaceutical form of methamphetamine, was
legally available to adults without a prescription in local pharmacies
for pennies per dose, would we have illegal clandestine meth labs
throughout the nation? I don't think so.

Ninety years ago, all types of recreational drugs were legally
available in local pharmacies for pennies per dose - including pure
pharmaceutical grade Bayer heroin.

Ninety years ago, the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist. Neither
did drug lords, drug cartels or even drug dealers as we know them today.

Ninety years ago, Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine and
sold for 5 cents a bottle. Ninety years ago, deaths from recreational
drugs were very rare. That's because the drugs were of known quality,
known purity and known potency. That's just the opposite of the
bootleg, black-market illegal drugs of today.

When alcohol prohibition was terminated in 1933, it was not because
the government decided alcohol was not so bad after all. Rather, it
was because of the crime and corruption that prohibition caused.

When alcohol prohibition was terminated in 1933, our overall crime
rate decreased substantially. Our murder rate declined for 10
consecutive years.

Have we learned any lessons?

Not yet.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz