DRUG INSANITY

Dear Editor:

Thanks for publishing Alan Randell's outstanding letter, "Bad drugs are
bad" in the Jan. 3 edition. I'd like to add that when all types of
recreational drugs, including heroin and cocaine, were legally sold in
local pharmacies for pennies per dose, the term "drug related crime,"
didn't exist. Neither did drug lords or drug cartels. These were all
created by drug prohibition -- not the drugs themselves.

And when all types of recreational drugs were legally sold in local
pharmacies, deaths from the drugs were very rare. That's because the drugs
were of known quality, potency and purity.

Today's black market drugs are of unknown quality, potency and purity.
Today's black market drugs are untaxed, unregulated and controlled by
criminal gangs.

It's time to end this insanity.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Arizona