To the Editor:

In your recent interview, Josh Levy claims that crime rates would go down if more people had guns. This is very speculative. If more people had guns, then in altercations between people, guns would be used more often, leading to many deaths, including gun accidents.

The real reason we have to live with high crime rates is the failed ‘war on drugs.’ This has led to violence on the one hand between gangs fighting for turf, or handling disputes with violence, which often causes fatalities on passersby; and due to higher prices and unregulated products, more need for funds for the addicts, who commit a large portion of the neighborhood burglaries.

Yes, we should offer the addicts, rehab treatments, but this will not cover those we don’t catch, and this approach, known as drug courts, or intervention, is only successful, when the person caught with possession is an addict and wants recovery. Let us end the war on drugs, as is recommended by many active and former law enforcement personnel (see www.Leap.cc).

Let us support any legislation which recognizes that we would be better off regulating and taxing, what essentially is a demand product by adults.  In those countries and U.S states, which have either legalized some drugs, or decriminalized some or all, we have seen lower rates of use among high school students. So really, there is no good reason to continue the failed war on drugs.

Thank you, Paul Fraser
Fair Lawn, NJ