DESPITE POLICE EFFORTS, 'DRUGS ARE HERE TO STAY'

The April 9 article "Nobel idea tried on Downtown Eastside" was very
interesting. However, one should also consider the elasticity of the demand
curve that relates to how demand changes with changes in prices.

One would expect that drug users, being addicted, will pay almost any price
to get their fix. Somehow, buyers and sellers will find each other
regardless of police actions.

Thus, increasing transaction costs will increase the price and the total
money spent on drugs. This will also mean more crime and more money spent
on policing.

On the other hand, if drugs were to be legalized, transaction costs could
be reduced, prices would come down so that most drug users could pay for
their habit out of a working wage, crime would come down and policing costs
would come down.

Art Powell

Enderby