LINK BETWEEN POVERTY AND DRUG USERS DOESN'T PERTAIN

Editor, the Tribune: I'm writing about Walter Williams' thoughtful piece
"Bad choices yield poverty." I agree with most of what Williams wrote,
except I disagree with his drug user/poverty connection being the fault of
the drug user. I believe the connection is the result of our government
policy of drug prohibition.

When all types of recreational drugs were legally sold in local pharmacies
for pennies per dose, drug users and drug addicts were indistinguishable
from non-drug users. Just as tobacco addicts today are indistinguishable
from non-tobacco users except for the fact that they use tobacco.

When Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine and sold for 5 cents a
bottle, cocaine addicts didn't have to rob, steal or commit acts of
prostitution to purchase their drug of choice. And the term "drug-related
crime" didn't exist.

Kirk Muse