Confusing an Artifact with a Fact
31 July 2006
Editor, The Washington Times
Dear Editor:
Deforest Rathbone rightly laments the thousand of deaths caused each year by drug abuse but wrongly asserts that legalization of drugs "would drive that horrific statistic much higher" (Letters, July 31). On the contrary, it's the current system of prohibition that keeps this statistic inhumanely high. If drugs were legalized, addicts would more readily seek treatment. Also, suppliers would be under competitive and legal pressures not only to ensure the quality of their products but to standardize information about dosages.
And importantly, sellers would lose incentives to push drugs to schoolchildren. Anyone who doubts this claim should ask himself when he last saw Anheuser-Busch or Seagram's peddling their intoxicating wares on schoolyards.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Washington Times
Dear Editor:
Deforest Rathbone rightly laments the thousand of deaths caused each year by drug abuse but wrongly asserts that legalization of drugs "would drive that horrific statistic much higher" (Letters, July 31). On the contrary, it's the current system of prohibition that keeps this statistic inhumanely high. If drugs were legalized, addicts would more readily seek treatment. Also, suppliers would be under competitive and legal pressures not only to ensure the quality of their products but to standardize information about dosages.
And importantly, sellers would lose incentives to push drugs to schoolchildren. Anyone who doubts this claim should ask himself when he last saw Anheuser-Busch or Seagram's peddling their intoxicating wares on schoolyards.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday April 24, 2007 at 1:47pm