Pubdate: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: John Freeman DRUG TREATMENT WOULD CUT CRIME The reason for giving drugs free to addicts is not to prolong their addiction. It is simply to remove the profit motive from the equation. Drug "pushers" are called pushers for a reason -- it is their job to get more people hooked in order to increase the size of their customer base, thereby increasing their profits. If there are no more millions of dollars to be made in the illicit drug trade, it will dry up and blow away. No addict is going to pay hundreds of dollars a day to a dealer if the habit can be controlled in clean surroundings for free. Benefits? Well, aside from the obvious benefits to the addicts, and the greatly increased possibility of getting them into treatment, it would free up millions of dollars' worth of police time. With the drug dealers gone the police can use their time for other community-enhancing tasks. The rate of property crime would fall off sharply without the addicts' need to make drug-buying dollars any way possible. Probably the most important result would be the possibility for the addict to move on to a more constructive life without the constant need to do anything, legal or not, to keep the drug supply flowing. John Freeman, Parksville. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom