Letter: Illogical To Decriminalize Drugs
Glenn V. Hoyt
December 6, 2008
Skagit Valley Herald (WA)
It is ironic that Mr. Byron in his Nov. 22 Saturday Soapbox letter used the 75th anniversary of the ending of prohibition of alcohol to advance the decriminalization of street drugs. I presume that this includes cannabis, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and combinations thereof — a notion that is either naive, wantonly self-serving or just plain galactically stupid.
While decriminalization might magically transform criminals into law-abiding citizens, it would not so magically transform addicts. Forget making "fewer criminals"; let's make fewer addicts.
The irony of Mr. Byron's citing the end of prohibition is that alcohol remains the one mood-altering drug most responsible for emergency room visits, police contacts and family disputes — not heroin, not methamphetamine. Alcohol-related diseases remain the most preventable killer, while that other legal, mood-altering drug, tobacco, has its own body count.
Street drugs, especially marijuana, are not benign. Decriminalizing their possession in any quantity would create more access to persons susceptible to addiction.
The logic of decriminalization is pure dope. | 
