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To the Editor of the Columbus Free Press:
Kudos to Valerie Howland for her outstanding column: "The war on drugs meets the war on terrorism, hits the dying Americans" (6-25-05).
I'd like to add that in 1904 Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine and sold for 5 cents a bottle. In 1904 the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist. Neither did drug lords, drug cartels or even drug dealers as we know them today.
In 1904 pure pharmaceutical grade Bayer heroin sold for about the same price as Bayer aspirin. And deaths from recreational drugs were very rare. That's because the drugs were of known quality, known purity and known potency--just the opposite of today's black market drugs.
America and the world does not have a drug problem: we have a drug prohibition problem.
Best regards,
Kirk Muse
Mesa, AZ 85208
Kudos to Valerie Howland for her outstanding column: "The war on drugs meets the war on terrorism, hits the dying Americans" (6-25-05).
I'd like to add that in 1904 Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine and sold for 5 cents a bottle. In 1904 the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist. Neither did drug lords, drug cartels or even drug dealers as we know them today.
In 1904 pure pharmaceutical grade Bayer heroin sold for about the same price as Bayer aspirin. And deaths from recreational drugs were very rare. That's because the drugs were of known quality, known purity and known potency--just the opposite of today's black market drugs.
America and the world does not have a drug problem: we have a drug prohibition problem.
Best regards,
Kirk Muse
Mesa, AZ 85208