BLAME MURDER RATE ON DRUG WAR

According to your Jan. 2 article, RCMP are blaming drugs for Surrey's
record murder rate.

The real culprit is drug prohibition. There is a clear historical
precedent in the U.S. experience with alcohol prohibition. Prohibition
ended in 1933 and with it the obscene black market profits that drove
mobster to kill each other in turf battles. The modern day drug war is no
different.

Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant
only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. In terms of addictive
drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to
increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't
fight crime, it fuels crime.

Taxing and regulating marijuana, the most popular illicit drug, is a
cost-effective alternative to the failed drug war. There is a big
difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from
drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana use
and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records.

What's really needed is a regulated market with enforceable age controls.
Right now kids have an easier time buying pot than been.

More disturbing is the manner in which marijuana's black market status
exposes users to sellers of hard drugs. Marijuana may be relatively
harmless compared to legal alcohol - the plant has never been shown to
cause an overdose death - but marijuana prohibition is deadly.

As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized crime,
consumers will continue to come into contact with addictive drugs like cocaine.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Program Officer

The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation

Washington, D.C. U.S.A.