LEGAL DRUGS ARE SAFER

THE EDITOR:

Re: 'No need to debate - prohibition is a failure,' Times letters, May 29.

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