Pubdate: Thu, 10 Sep 2015
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2015 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Suzanne Wills

LEGALIZE THE REAL DRUGS

Re: "Synthetic drugs set tragedy in motion," by James Ragland, 
Saturday Metro column.

Ragland makes several good points about synthetic drugs. These are 
powders of unknown origin and composition. Of course, they're 
dangerous and too often lethal. The best solution is blindingly 
obvious: Legalize the real things. Marijuana alone has never been 
shown to cause an overdose death. Estimates of lethal doses of LSD 
are more than 100 times a typical dose.

Since 1994, Switzerland has given injectable heroin to intractable 
addicts at clinics. There have been no drug-elated deaths among these addicts.

Ragland notes, "Drug overdoses ... were the No. 1 cause of accidental 
deaths in America in 2013." These were mostly from pharmaceutical 
painkillers and street heroin.

A study at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 
Baltimore found that in the 13 states that passed laws that legalized 
medical marijuana between 1999 and 2010, 25 percent fewer people die 
from opioid overdoses annually.

Medical marijuana states have also experienced a decrease in the 
suicide rate of about 5 percent overall and 11 percent among young males.

Prohibition of certain drugs benefits people and industries that have 
learned to make money from it. The rest of us allow it to continue at 
our peril.

Suzanne Wills, Dallas/White Rock Hills
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom