Norm Jackson evidently feels strongly the most effective way to minimize the harm caused by drugs is to prohibit them by law (“Legalizing marijuana makes no sense,” June 16). Didn’t we try that with alcohol, only to realize that prohibition caused more harm than before, including deaths and blindness caused by adulterated booze?
Adulterated street heroin killed my 19-year-old son in 1993, so I vehemently disagree with Jackson. We should legalize all recreational drugs and stop throwing gazillions of dollars down a rat hole persecuting a vulnerable minority whose drugs of choice differ from those chosen by “respectable” people.
This article appears in Aug 19-26, 2010.