Madam, – I agree “there will always be a demand to escape from reality until we achieve a Utopian society” (Brian English, May 13th). I disagree, however, with his conclusion that “governments must act now and legalise drugs”.
We do not know if legalisation of drugs would or would not increase addiction.
In a situation in which drugs were legal the price of drugs would presumably be lowered since they could be bought over the counter. One of the basic laws of economics says that lower prices increase consumption. Hence it can be argued that legalising drugs would increase addiction.
We need to think long and hard, and do a lot more research, before we adopt the strategy advocated by Mr English of decriminalising the sale of drugs. – Yours, etc,