MISGUIDED WAR ON DRUGS

Editor:

Thanks for publishing the outstanding letters from Richard Rawlings and
Jason Turuc: "War On Drugs" (12-27-03). I'd like to add that law enforcement
has a vested financial interest in maintaining the status quo of drug
criminalization.

Many prison wardens have said that 70 to 80 percent of all violent crime is
drug-related. Actually almost 100 percent of our so-called drug-related
crime is drug criminalization caused crime.

Ninety years ago when all types of recreational drugs were legally available
in local pharmacies for pennies per dose, the term "drug-related crime"
didn't exist.

Neither did drug lords, drug cartels or drug dealers as we know them
today. If we re-legalized all types of recreational drugs and made
them available in local pharmacies for pennies per dose, our violent
crime would be reduced by about 75 percent. Therefore, we would need
far fewer law enforcement personnel, prisons, prison guards and prison
builders. Therefore, law enforcement has a vested interest in
maintaining the status quo of drug prohibition. Therefore, taxpayers
and free citizens have a vested interest in changing the status quo of
drug prohibition.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.