Zogby International asked that question of 1,028 likely voters. Ninety-nine out of 100 said "No." Only 0.6 percent said "Yes."¹

Drug War advocates have always insisted that addiction would explode if drugs were legalized. But that argument comes apart under the weight of the evidence. While a poll can't predict actual drug use, it clearly shows that most of us avoid hard drugs because of common sense – not fear of arrest.

And that's always been the case. At the beginning of the last century when a virtual free market for drugs existed, use rates were lower than they are today.² Drug use and addiction – along with crime, violence and corruption – only began to climb after the advent of drug prohibition in 1914.³

Isn't it time to end the War on Drugs? Let's turn addiction problems over to the people who dealt with them effectively before 1914 – doctors, nurses and health care professionals.

1. Zogby America Poll of Likely Voters 10/24/07 thru 10/27/07, "If hard drugs such as heroin or cocaine were legalized, would you be likely to use them?" sponsored by StoptheDrugWar.org, full results and other info online at stopthedrugwar.org. 2. Speaking out against drug legalization, US Drug Enforcement Administration, and Courtwright, David T., "Dark Paradise: A History of Opiate Addiction in America" (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), p. 9; 3. Courtwright, "Dark Paradise," 2001.