A response, and mine to it.

The DMN published a response to my letter (post below) on Wednesday, this:

Re: "If drugs were just legal," by Nigel Watt, Saturday Letters.

This laughable letter makes the simplistic argument that since drug violence is caused by drugs' illegality, if we would use a little thought and common sense, we would legalize all of them and therefore rid ourselves of the violence and millions of tax dollars spent curtailing drug-related crime and its related issues.

What about the health care burdens of rampant drug use? What about the effects on families and teens who are already more susceptible to trying new things? Overdoses? Car wrecks, shootings and assaults caused by people who were high?

It's not too difficult to foresee the potentially disastrous effects of legalizing drugs. It just takes a little thought and common sense.

Jared Ambra, Cedar Hill

OK, several points:

• I didn't give it that silly title, the paper did.
• He concedes my main point (that drug violence is caused by their being illegal) and then ignores it: "Car wrecks, shootings and assaults caused by people who were high?"
• He fails to realize that anybody who wants drugs today can get them, so "rampant drug use" wouldn't suddenly happen if legalization did.
• Health care burdens caused by people destroying themselves are the best argument against medical welfare programs.
• There's never any call to be rude.

Unrelatedly, the Texas LP has a contact list of candidates for this year.