JUST SAY NO

Jake Witmer of West Town pompously argues the misguided, misinformed cause
to legalize drugs, saying there are "thousands" of good reasons to do so
[Letter, "A casualty of useless war," June 19]. I seriously doubt that, and
there are even better reasons not to legalize drugs.

The drug users are very naive when they claim a cost-free trade-off for
legal drugs. After addiction rates skyrocket, and they would because that
is exactly what happened when they legalized heroin in England in the '60s,
the drain and burden on our already strained health care system would be
runious. The government would also have to employ people to sell the drugs;
if you could still only buy them from the dealers nothing would change;
they would still set the price.

Most importantly, if drugs were legalized, many members of our society
would still have to be banned from using drugs anyway. I wonder if Witmer
would like the pilot of the next plane he flies on, the surgeon who
operates on him or the lawyer who defends him in court be high on cocaine,
heroin or PCP.

How many more people would be killed on the roads to add to the epidemic of
drunken driving? There are your "thousands" of reasons not to legalize
drugs. Drug use isn't a "personal choice" when it affects someone else.

Finally, I can't think of anything more apalling than the drug users
indoctrinating a whole new generation of drug users--their kids. To
legalize drugs would be the most asinine, defeatest, suicidal action our
society could take. For Mr. Witmer, I have a better idea: Get off the
garbage and quit trying to con others to give credibililty to your
degenerate, criminal behavior.

Michael Seidelman,

Aurora