LEGALIZATION IS KEY TO CURBING CRIME

The war on drugs was lost before it began ("Data show war on drugs
failing as cocaine gets cheaper, purer," May 5).

No matter how much money we throw down the drug war rat hole, we will
never be able to nullify the immutable 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
somebody will get them to the willing buyers.

This we can guarantee.

And 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.

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 different from 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