SHOOTING DEALERS WON'T SOLVE ILLEGAL DRUG MESS

Arthur S. Lyon (Letter Box, March 29) claims that we ought to summarily
shoot drug dealers to solve the illegal drugs problem. I have heard this
assertion many times, and I always have two questions to ask anyone who
makes such an assertion: 1. How many people are actually killed by drugs in
the United States in a typical year? Please include the figures for
alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs, as well as the illegal drugs.

2. How many people do you propose that we kill to solve that problem?

If your answer to Question 2 is more than the figures in the answer to
Question 1, please explain why you want to kill more people than the
problem you are trying to solve.

Of course, I have been asking these two questions of people who make Lyon's
proposal for several years.

I have found that, invariably, people who make such a suggestion don't even
know enough about the subject to answer the first question, let alone the
second.

CLIFFORD A. SCHAFFER

Canyon Country, Calif.