Pubdate: Sun, 08 Jul 2012 Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Copyright: 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/5QwXAJWY Website: http://www.suntimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n340/a02.html Author: Kirk Muse LEGALIZING DRUGS WOULD REDUCE CRIME I liked James E. Gierach's thoughtful letter in the July 5 Sun-Times: "To stop killings, take profit out of guns." But I did not like the title you assigned to it. Gierach did not advocate removing profit from gun sales. He advocated removing the profit from drugs. I'd like to add that drugs and gangs seem to go hand-in-hand. From 1920 to 1933, alcohol and gangs went hand-in-hand. Back then, alcohol was completely unregulated, untaxed and controlled by criminal gangs - just like meth and other recreational drugs are today. If all drugs were legally available in local pharmacies for pennies per dose, would criminals gangs be involved with them? No. Would drug users be constantly seeking new drug users to pay for their habit? No. If we re-legalized all our illegal drugs so that they could be sold by licensed and regulated businesses for pennies per dose, would this eliminate our drug problems? No. Will we ever be able to eliminate our drug problems? No. However, doing so would substantially reduce the crime rate and increase public safety. Regulated and controlled drugs would be of known purity, known potency and known quality, which would make them very much safer than today's black-market drugs. But what message would we send to children if we re-legalized all illegal drugs so they could be sold in licensed, regulated and taxed business establishments? The same message we send to children today when we allow products such as alcohol and tobacco to be sold in licensed, regulated and taxed business establishments. A free country's government cannot protect its adult citizens from themselves. A free country's government has no right to attempt to do so. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt