THE BENEFITS OF LEGALIZING DRUGS

Re: April 10 editorial "Wave of killings threatens to swamp Calderon."

When is the last time the American-Statesman ran front-page stories
about alcohol cartels engaged in gun battles in the streets? Probably
about 1933, the year we terminated the disaster known as alcohol prohibition.

If the United States and Mexico legalized all of our now illegal
drugs so they can be sold in regulated and licensed business
establishments for pennies per dose, would this solve our drug problems? No.

But it would substantially reduce our crime rate. Alcohol prohibition
was not abolished in 1933 because it was decided that alcohol was not
so bad but because of the crime and corruption that prohibition
caused. In 1933, our overall crime rate declined substantially and
our murder rate declined for 10 consecutive years.

Have we learned any lessons from this experience? Not yet.

Kirk Muse