DO TOUGH DRUG LAWS ACTUALLY CREATE CRIME?

I'm writing about: "Police: crime is a function of growth" (6-11-07).
I disagree. Most of our violent crime and property crime is a result
of our drug prohibition policies -- not drugs and not population growth.

If we re-legalized all our illegal drugs so that they could be sold
by licensed and regulated businesses for pennies per dose, would this
eliminate our drug problems? No.

However, doing so would substantially reduce the crime rate and
increase public safety.

Will we ever be able to eliminate our drug problems? No. However, we
can substantially reduce the harm caused by our illegal drugs.
Regulated and controlled drugs would be of known purity, known
potency and known quality -- which would make them very much safer
than today's black-market drugs.

But what message would we send to children if we legalized all
illegal drugs so they could be sold in licensed, regulated and taxed
business establishments? The same message we send to children today
when we allow products such as alcohol and tobacco to be sold in
licensed, regulated and taxed business establishments.

A free country's government cannot protect its adult citizens from
themselves. A free country's government has no right to attempt to do so.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, AZ