Serious Problems in Legalizing Drugs

* I find John M. Mulholland’s argument that we must ease the pain of drug producers in Third World countries by legalizing drugs and consigning millions of Americans to death or the living hell of drug addiction singularly unconvincing. And Jim Rosenfield needs to check his facts on the results of alcohol prohibition in this country (letters, Sept. 26).

Historically, nations with liberalized drug laws have invariably ended up with serious drug problems. The Netherlands, with its marijuana “coffee shops” and “enlightened” drug policy, is reeling under a rising epidemic of crime attributed to drug users. Great Britain, that paradigm of clinical control of heroin, has experienced a virtual explosion in its addict population and related crime.

Public opinion to the contrary, Prohibition in the United States was an unqualified public health success. Statistics show that Prohibition, which was in effect between 1920 and 1933, resulted in a 50% reduction in alcohol consumption, a decrease in deaths due to cirrhosis, fewer alcohol-related medical problems, a drop in alcohol-related traffic deaths, a decline in admissions to mental hospitals, and a reduction in the suicide rate, all without a significant increase in the nation’s crime rate.

From a historical, practical and moral perspective, the only sane policy for dealing with drugs in this nation is continued strict enforcement of laws prohibiting drug dealing and use, along with a concerted effort to reduce the demand for drugs, especially among our young people. Legalization of drugs is a dead end which will lead to national disaster.

RONALD P. GLOVER

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