Legalising drugs is a simplistic solution

I THINK Ryle Dwyer (August 8) is being facile and simplistic when he reduces the issue of drug use to saying that legalising it “would knock the dealers out of business”.

All it would do is make them legal traders. But it is a much wider issue than that.

As he says, by selling drugs over the counter “addicts would be legally able to get their drugs cheaper”. This would make them more available.

It is hard to see how this would reduce drug addiction.

Your columnist quotes a “huge study” conducted on behalf of the European Commission which concluded that “the war on drugs has not reduced the use of illicit drugs”. But it could have kept drug use much lower than it would otherwise have been. While the present situation is difficult I have severe doubts about Ryle Dwyer’s solution of recognising that addicts are ill and we should provide them with the necessary drug under conditions controlled by the HSE.

Before we decide to take Ryle Dwyer’s advice and legalise drugs we must have answers to some difficult questions. One is what proportion of the population would be addicted to drugs in conditions in which they could be bought over the counter? What would be the cost to the health services of the treatment of such a level of addiction?

The cost to the economy of the impact in the workplace of such a level of addiction is also an issue of some importance. There are no easy answers, but the consequences of legalising drugs needs a lot more study before such a drastic step is taken.

Anthony Leavy

Shielmartin Drive

Sutton

Dublin 13