NINETY YEARS AGO...

Dear Editor:

Thank you for publishing Chris Buors' outstanding letter: "REPEAL ALL DRUG
LAWS" (8-28-03). I'd like to add that ninety years ago all types of
recreational drugs were legally available in local pharmacies for pennies
per dose.

Ninety years ago, the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist. Neither did
drug lords or drug cartels. These were all created by our drug
criminalization policies-not drugs.

Ninety years ago, when all types of recreational drugs were legally
available in local pharmacies for pennies per dose, we had about 1.8% of our
population addicted to drugs. The same percentage we have today, according
to U. S. federal Judge John Kane of Colorado.

Ninety years ago, deaths from recreational drugs were very rare. That's
because the drugs were of known quality, known potency and known purity.
Just the opposite of our black market drugs of today.

When alcohol prohibition ended in 1933, the U. S. murder rate declined for
10 consecutive years. Have we learned any lessons?

Not yet!

Kirk Muse
Mesa, AZ