Malleson Urges Legalized Drugs

Dr. Nicholas Malleson, Director of Health Services at the University of London, said that all hallucinogenic drugs, not only marijuana, should be legalized.

Speaking in Kirkland House last night, he warned that legal change would not solve the problem of drug users. "It's insoluble; it's a problem of our times," he said.

Malleson, now a visiting fellow at M.I.T. said that the drug problem is "much too serious for morality." He compared the fight over the use of drugs to the conflict over sex in the last generation. He said the arguments against the use of drugs are "sheer opinion dished up as fact."

He pointed out that other ways young people find excitement are often far more harmful. Twelve hundred teenagers were killed or maimed last year in motor bike accidents, he said, adding that even religious ecstacy--can be dangerous. "I've known many young women I'd rather see take LSD than Billy Graham."