[originaltext]INTERVIEWER: Professor Nadelmanne, you have been one of the earli

INTERVIEWER: Professor Nadelmanne, you have been one of the earliest and most listened voices in favor of drug legalization. Why are you for it?
INTERVIEWEE: Well, in my opinion, the most violent, outlaw economies created by drug prohibition are worse than drag use itself.
INTERVIEWER: Suppose drug legalization is in effect, then what’s the first riling you do?
INTERVIEWEE: The case for legalizing marijuana is an extremely powerful one. But my idea of legalization is not based on the tobacco model, in which we make a highly addictive and deadly substance available at seven cents a piece to be sold in vending machines in packages of twenty. What you do is make it available, more or less like alcohol is made available, in places where it is relatively controlled, where you have to show proof of ID. With legal marijuana you could have health warnings on the label.
INTERVIEWER: Do you think that tobacco companies or pharmaceutical companies will come to dominate the business?
INTERVIEWEE: No, we can’t afford that. Look at the tobacco industry internationally. Do they ever make an effort not to have it sold to children? I’d like to see the federal tax on tobacco doubled or tripled.  That would significantly reduce consumption, especially among new users, but would not raise the price so high it would encourage a black market.
INTERVIEWER: So marijuana is legal, what next?
INTERVIEWEE: On a realistic level, we’re going to have to go step by step. For example, we are not going to legalize crack; what we will do is legalize 15 percent cocaine.  Let’s say the government will make available 15 percent-pure cocaine.  What would happen? Clearly a lot of people using 60 percent cocaine would be just as satisfied with 15 percent. They would be better-off, in all likelihood, because they are using a weaker drug and not as much of it.
INTERVIEWER: What would you do about PCP and heroin?
INTERVIEWEE: I don’t think it’s a good idea to introduce particular types of drugs into places where there is no demand for them. But if there is a lot of PCP use in this city, then the government comes in and regulates its sale. The object is to undercut the criminal element.
INTERVIEWER: What do you sec when you look into the future of the drug situation?
INTERVIEWEE: You hear knowledgeable people say that the knowledge to manufacture mindalerting  substances at home is the type of knowledge anybody with a high school chemistry education will have.
INTERVIEWER: So what are we going to do then.* To ban high school chemistry courses?
INTERVIEWEE: Well, almost every society has found some form of chemical substance to alter one’s state of consciousness. Some societies have been very successful at integrating this into their culture and using it in almost totally nondestructive ways. Somehow public policy has to find a way of encouraging people not to abuse drugs, or at least to use them more safely. Then we need to find the best ways to deal with those people who don’t know how to use them safely. Not by throwing them in jail, but by finding ways to help them.