In response to the Oct. 14 letter to the editor about the American war on drugs, the writer made great points on why marijuana should be legal. The same case should be made for all drugs. Legalizing all drugs eliminates the black market and reduces the crime related to drug cartels and gangs. Portugal decriminalized all drug use five years ago. Since then, teen drug use has decreased, and those seeking treatment for drug use has doubled. Like the prohibition of alcohol, the prohibition of drugs hasnâÄôt worked and is costing the United States billions of dollars each year. If all drugs were legalized and regulated by the government âÄî not the black market âÄî addiction and crime rates would decrease. Hard drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine wouldnâÄôt be sold in street corners but rather issued in a responsible manner. Australia has instituted heroin supervised injection centers to go along with other harm-minimizing programs. When an addict enters this facility, he or she is given the option of receiving treatment or harm-reducing information on drug use, or being injected with heroin, if theyâÄôd like. By using clean needles at these sites, the spread of HIV through intravenous injections will decrease. Drug use should be a health issue, not a criminal issue for this country, but prohibition turns addicts into criminals. The current war on drugs puts law enforcement in the face of violence, overcrowds prisons, wastes our tax money and takes away AmericansâÄô constitutional civil liberties. The war on drugs is not a war, because wars end. Physicist Albert Einstein may have put it best: âÄúThe prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition law, for nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.âÄù Zachary Tauer University undergraduate student President of Students for Sensible Drug Policy Please send comments to [email protected].