LEGALISE DRUGS TO GET RID OF CRIME

Miranda Devine's column "Victims are screaming, but no-one hears" (Herald,
November 8) makes some good points about crime, but is misguided about the
solution. The problem is not that no-one hears, but rather that those in
authority refuse to listen to commonsense and take refuge in laws and
punishments that have only made crime worse.

As someone who was held up at gunpoint years ago and narrowly escaped being
mugged by a drug addict with a knife on Sunday night, I feel I have some
understanding of the fear people have about crime.

Spending more on police will help a little, but the problem is drugs. We
can't stop people using them. We only have the power to decide whether that
use is legal or not.

An acquaintance was recently released from prison and he told me he could
get virtually any drug he wanted inside for only slightly more than it cost
outside. What hope then do we have of stopping drugs in the community? None.

More people will continue to suffer horrible violence until we face
reality: if drugs were legal, addicts would not need to do home invasions
or rob people as they'd be so much cheaper.

I spoke recently to a police prosecutor who said 70 per cent of the cases
he dealt with were drug-related and it was his opinion that all drugs
should be legalised.

Drug addicts are like wild animals feeding on society - if we fed them
rather than left them to fend for themselves, there'd be fewer people left
hurt or scarred by crime.

L. Smith, Potts Point, November 9.