DRUG LAWS ARE HARMFUL

In response to the Jan. 17 Record article, Tougher Pot Grow-Penalties
Urged, getting tough on drug producers and sellers has been tried here
in the United States. The net results are that the U.S. now has more
prisoners than any other country in history. With less than five per
cent of the world's population, the former "land of the free" has more
than 25 per cent of the world's prisoners -- thanks primarily to our
counterproductive war on (politically selected) drugs. Most of our
drug-related crime is actually drug-prohibition caused crime. Canada's
crime and murder rates are a small fraction of the U.S. rates. That
will soon change if Canada adopts the U.S. drug policies.

Kirk Muse,
Vancouver, Wash.