MAKING DRUGS LEGAL NOT A FIX, SAY EX-USERS

Legalize drugs? That's what I advocated in this space a month ago. By
allowing licensed clinics to sell or dispense hard drugs, we could
take business away from violent dealers and let rationality and
regulated economics rule the streets instead of robbery and murder.

Not so fast, say people who really know about heroin supply and
demand. The hard-drug trade, say former patrons, doesn't have much to
do with rationality.

"I don't think that's going to stop the dealers from dealing," says
Felicia, 47, a recovering addict who notes that even legalized
methadone is bought and sold on the streets. "It may slow it down
some. But there's always going to be someone out there that's going
to sell to me. Always."

A full discussion of selling Bad Azz heroin (named after a rap album)
like Johnnie Walker scotch should include those who have copped a
dime bag on the corner. I asked Felicia and two other recovering
addicts at Man Alive's Lane Treatment Center on Maryland Avenue -
Ronnie, 46, and Shari, 35 - about the pros and cons of legalization.
This is their column.

Their first point is that drug use is more than sticking a needle in
your arm or a crack pipe in your mouth. "It ain't about the using,"
said one. "It's about the getting."

Drugs are part of a way of life - robbery, gangs, prostitution - that
would persist even if the delivery method changed, the women said.
"Addiction is not just getting high," said Felicia, who like the
other addicts isn't especially proud of her past and didn't want her
last name used. "It's the whole thing - copping [buying on the
street], stealing, whatever you do."

Alcohol is legal, but "people out there will rob for a fifth of
liquor because they can't get a dollar and 50 cents," she said. "They
steal, they trick. They do the same thing. I've got friends that will
go out there and hustle harder than me for a drink." Methadone also
is legal, but plenty of methadone patients who are clean of heroin
still break the law, she said.

Legalization wouldn't eliminate illegal dealing, the women suggested.
Heroin and cocaine fuel a multimillion-dollar economy that supports
much of the inner city. Under legalization, "even people that don't
use [are] going to find a way to get it, and they're going to sell
it" - possibly to kids, said Ronnie. "Somebody's going to find a way
to make a profit off the government."

"You're not going to give up this way of making money," said Felicia.
"There's too much money in this stuff for it to become legal. They
don't want to give up their cut."

And legal dispensation of hard drugs might not sate a citywide
craving. Fearful of overdoses, legal clinics will know when to say
when. But of course demand for addictive drugs goes way beyond
medical guidelines, which could keep the corner bazaar alive.

"So I'm going to go and get this free drug that the government is
going to put out there," said Ronnie. "Now if it's good, and I like
it, what am I supposed to do now? I don't know how many times a day
they're going to give it out. Is it just that one time, or what?"

And if heroin and coke are legalized, what about Ecstasy? What about
crystal meth?

"You're never satisfied," said Felicia. "I don't care if they give it
to you. You're always going to want more."

Legalization certainly wouldn't reduce the population of addicts.
Quite the opposite. Shari has two teenage boys. The misery they have
witnessed caused by heroin and cocaine - including the recent
overdose death of her stepfather - will keep them off drugs, she believes.

But what about other kids? She pauses a long time. "That's hard to
say." Legalization might remove drugs' forbidden-fruit allure, she
says, but she's not sure.

Legalization won't stop addicts' risky behavior, all three women
warned. "If they're giving it to you, you're still going to find a
way of sharing a cook or a needle," said Felicia. "Or unprotected
sex. That's not going to stop that." They also worried that legal
purveyors might increase addiction by advertising or boosting potencies.

Completely legalizing hard drugs has been much discussed but never
done, although Switzerland and a few other countries allow legal,
"medicalized" injection of heroin for the worst addicts. The policy
has been linked to reduced crime.

Any nation trying it would encounter devilish complications, several
of which the recovering addicts at Man Alive identified. Policy could
address their concerns - steer dealers into new careers, require
on-premise drug consumption to prevent resale, beef up addiction
treatment programs. But terrible unintended consequences would no doubt remain.

Even so, we need to try something different. If by legalizing
addictive drugs we fuel the forces of irrationality, would that be
less irrational than what we're doing now?