RE-LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS

THANKS FOR publishing the outstanding letter from Alan and Eleanor Randell
("Legalize all drugs," Sept. 28). It seems to me that adult citizens of a
free country should be able to smoke, swallow, snort or inject any
substance they want. And be personally responsible for the consequences.
Almost all the problems associated with illegal drugs are because the drugs
are illegal. When pure pharmaceutical grade heroin was legally sold in
local pharmacies for about the same price as aspirin, the term
"drug-related crime" did not exist. Neither did drug lords nor drug
cartels. These were all created by drug prohibition - not drugs. When all
drugs were legal, deaths from recreational drugs were rare. That's because
the drugs were of known quality, known purity and known potency. As to the
message we would send to our children if we re-legalized all drugs - it's
not the proper role of a free country's government to protect adult
citizens from themselves.

Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz.

(Someone has to. Adults too often act like children)