LEGALIZATION WOULD END WAR ON DRUGS

Re: "War on drugs a loser," Editorial, May 26.

The war on drugs was lost before it began. No matter how much money
we throw down the drug-war rat hole, we will never be able to nullify
the law of supply and demand.

As long as people want recreational drugs and are willing to pay a
substantial price for them, somebody will produce these drugs and sell them.

Almost all of our so-called drug-related crime is caused by our
drug-prohibition policies, not the drugs themselves.

If we 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. Regulated and controlled drugs would be of
known purity, known potency and known quality, which would make them
much safer than today's black-market drugs.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.