IT'S SIMPLE: LEGALIZE DRUGS

To the Editor,

Re: City Mountie faces fight from suspect with syringe - June 11.

Want a solution? Legalize drugs.

What would that accomplish? Let's think about it.

A user who can purchase his drug at a pharmacy will receive a clean needle
and unadulterated drugs.

A clean needle supply will keep him free from disease caused by needle
sharing, a problem caused by prohibition.

He will not commit crimes to support his habit because he will easily be
able to afford his drugs.

It is the black market that causes drug costs to be hugely inflated. He
will purchase his drug in a pure, controlled form. The purity of street
heroin ranges anywhere from five to 60 percent. This causes some users to
overdose because they're expecting a low purity. Others become violent
because they're expecting higher purity only to find they've been ripped
off. Still others end up with significant health problems because of the
toxic substances used to dilute the drug.

There is no need to dilute drugs except to increase profits. The black
market is not regulated. The pharmaceutical market is.

Legal drugs mean pure drugs. Want to get dirty drug users off the street?
Legalize it today. Want to keep people off drugs? Do it through education
and treatment.

The health, social and economic costs of prohibition far outweigh the same
costs in a legalized and regulated drug environment.