Pubdate: Sun, 02 Dec 2007 Source: East Valley Tribune (AZ) Copyright: 2007 East Valley Tribune. Contact: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2708 Author: Kirk Muse ILLEGAL DRUGS: LAWS CREATE TRAGEDIES Regarding Robert E. Riodan's not-so-thoughtful letter: "Illegal Drugs: All dealers deserve death" (Nov. 28th) Danny Pasanella died of a heroin overdose because the black market, bootleg heroin he consumed was of unknown quality, unknown purity and unknown potency. When pure pharmaceutical grade Bayer heroin was legally sold in local pharmacies and grocery stores for pennies per dose, deaths from heroin were very rare. And the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist. Largely because of our so-called "tough on drugs" policies the United States is the most incarcerated nation in the history. We now have greater than 2.2 million prisoners. For comparison Great Britain has only about 80,000 total prisoners. Tough drug laws do not deter drug use. The U. S. government estimates that at least 100 millions Americans have used illegal drugs. How many should be in jail or prison for doing so? I submit none. Kirk Muse Mesa - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart