From time to time there have been letters in the Star having to do with drug legalization.

Drug legalization has become a topic of national and international debate as evidenced by the fact that it is addressed by such notables as Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, former Secretary of State George Schultz, political commentator William F. Buckley, Mayor Kurt Schmoke of Baltimore and others, who are all in favor of drug legalization.

Excellent references on the pro side of drug legalization are:

“Drug Prohibition and the Conscience of Nations” by Trebach and Zeese, Drug Policy Foundation, Washington D.C.

“The Great Drug War,” by Trebach, MacMillan, New York.

“Reason, Compassion and The Drug War, Religious Coalition for a Moral Drug Policy,” Washington D.C.

“Hofstra Law Review,” Spring 1990.

“Nadelmann, Ethan (1989) Drug Prohibition in the United States.” Science, Vol. 245, pages 939-947 (Sept. 1).

There is a wide diversity of views within the drug legalization constituency, and this topic may well become a political issue in 1992 or 1994.

I am told that at several northern California universities student groups have been organized around drug legalization.

The central issues are: are there beneficial nonmedical uses for drugs? Who has the right to determine what an American citizen can do with his or her mind and body?

Is drug abuse best addressed as a moral and law-enforcement problem or as a medical and educational problem?

Mayor Schmoke phrases the last topic well: “Drug abuse should be addressed by the surgeon general, not the attorney general.”

Thomas B. Roberts

Professor of Educational Psychology