WHAT ABOUT CAFFEINE?

Dear Editor:

Major kudos to M. L. Simon for another outstanding OPED: "DRUG
RELATED" ( 2-13-02 ). Almost all of our so-called drug-related crime
is actually drug prohibition-caused crime.

At the turn of the last century, there was no such thing as
"drug-related" crime.

That's because Bayer heroin was legally available at local pharmacies
for about the same price as Bayer aspirin. Also Coca-Cola contained
cocaine instead of caffeine and sold for 5 cents a bottle.

Today, caffeine addicts don't have to rob, steal or prostitute
themselves to buy a Coke, Pepsi or cup of coffee.

That's because their drug of choice, caffeine, is legal.

If caffeine were prohibited, the situation would be just like it is
today with other prohibited substances.

A black market would soon develop in caffeine, and caffeine products
would be sold only by criminals.

The price of caffeine products would skyrocket. Actually, it makes
more since to prohibit caffeine rather than marijuana because there
is a lethal dosage for caffeine, but not for marijuana. But
prohibition doesn't work except to assure the full employment of
those doing the prohibiting. If prohibition worked, tobacco should
be the first substance prohibited and alcohol the second.

But prohibition doesn't work, and it never will.

Kirk Muse,

Mesa, Ariz.