Pubdate: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 Source: Daily Gazette (NY) Copyright: 2002 The Gazette Newspapers Contact: http://www.dailygazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/105 Author: Arthur Cole Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) LEGALIZE DRUGS, WATCH CRIME DISAPPEAR Is it any surprise that crime and drug activity in Hamilton Hill picked up again after police swept the area and removed 100 or so drug dealers? Not really. It's been well documented that drug sweeps do nothing to end the drug trade. They merely replace one set of dealers with another, with a corresponding increase in violence as the new dealers fight for all that turf that is now up for grabs. It is the dealers, after all, who are responsible for the drug-related mayhem on our streets. Drug users, for the most part, only become a threat to society when the price of drugs exceeds their ability to pay for them. What drives up the price of drugs? Drug prohibition, of course. Someday, the America public will realize that drug prohibition, like alcohol prohibition before it, only fuels crime and violence in our society. Providing addicts with a safe, low-cost, steady supply of even hard drugs like heroin will remove the drug dealers from our streets, drastically cut down on overdose and drug-related deaths, reduce property crime caused by addicts and make it exceedingly difficult for our young people to acquire drugs. Isn't that why we are fighting the drug war in the first place? ARTHUR COLE Hope Valley, R.I. - --- MAP posted-by: Ariel