Pubdate: Sat, 10 Jun 2006 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2006 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n727/a07.html Author: Robert Sharpe LEGALIZED DRUGS LIGHT THE WAY THERE IS a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalization ("A safer society? Legalize drugs," op-ed, June 6). Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death, and crime among chronic users. Prescription heroin maintenance could deprive organized crime of a core client base. Rendering illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable would spare future generations from addiction. Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs such as cocaine. Current drug policy is a gateway policy. Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol -- the plant has never been shown to cause an overdose death -- it makes no sense to waste tax dollars on failed policies that finance organized crime and facilitate hard drug use. Drug policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to think the children are more important than the message. ROBERT SHARPE, Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake