Legalization of Drugs

It seems that the legalization of drugs is an idea whose time has come. This is most evident by the increased support of legalization by the right wing. However, it seems that some of the right wing have a hard time understanding the dynamics that make drug prohibition a fruitless endeavor.

Take, for example, Column Right by Paul Craig Roberts (“Drug Laws Aid and Abet Crime Wave,” Nov. 14). Though the headline clearly implies a column on the merits of drug legalization, the reader soon discovers that Roberts instead largely delivers a diatribe opposed to gun control.

He seems to believe that the two issues are identical; he uses valid arguments against the prohibition of drugs to try to argue against the prohibition of guns. One such argument is that prohibition creates black markets and underground economies. He even goes as far to say that if we were to “ban makeup, cigarettes, word processors or guns . . . a similar murder rate will be associated with the profits from their illegal distribution.”

It is true that banning guns (or pantyhose, etc.) would create a black market--just as black markets exist today for everything from kiddie porn and plastic explosives to ivory curios. It is important to note, however, that many of these black markets are tiny and that the benefits of prohibition far outweigh the consequences of the black markets.

It is hard to imagine clandestine gun factories popping up supplying an endless stream of black-market handguns.

The very nature of the drug market makes prohibition impossible whereas the prohibition of guns would likely be workable. The demand for drugs is far greater than the demand for guns. Further, it seems unlikely that guns would be sold in the little $10 to $20 chunks, which make drugs such a salable product.

I agree with Roberts that legalizing drugs would greatly reduce crime. However, I am not moved by his use of the same argument in support of legal guns. After all, guns are designed to kill and threaten by their proper, intended use, while drugs are designed to get you high and almost all of the harm they cause comes not from their use, but from their prohibition.

ROBERT CONSTANT

Venice

Roberts is absolutely right. If we legalize drugs in the same sense that we legalize tobacco and alcohol, we cannot only save the $22 billion that Congress wants for a new crime bill, but we can augment our budget by taxing the sale of these substances.

Sure, it is stupid to use drugs. It not only threatens the health and life of the user, but the irrational behavior can be a threat to others. But look at tobacco and alcohol. Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of death in the country. And alcohol destroys not only health, homes and careers, but it is a contributing factor to at least half of the 40,000-plus highway deaths each year. This certainly is not meant to condone tobacco and alcohol. It merely says that the government cannot keep everyone from acting like a fool.

Let us use our police for crimes against society, not for crimes against one’s self.

H. RAY LAHR

Malibu

Roberts has finally written something with which I can wholeheartedly agree. Drugs should be legalized to take the huge profits and the violence out of the trade.

EMMA W. WILLSEY

Huntington Beach