Tilly asks what the impact on insurance premiums would be if drugs were legalized and further states that the only ones that would benefit from legalization would be users and patients that might benefit from them. I believe the insurance premium question is an interesting issue that really can't be disentangled from the larger issues of government regulation of insurance. Currently, there are many mandates imposed on the insurance industry by the government that restrict the ability to vary premiums based on health risks. I think that an insurance company rightfully should charge higher premiums to people who use dangerous substances. Allowing higher premiums to be assessed would minimize the effect on other insurance company customers. I think another facet of the question to consider is the incremental decrease in crime that would be realized with legalization. The vast majority of violent crimes currently associated with drug use stem from its illegality and its restriction to the black market. With legalization, the impetus for violence would be much reduced. I disagree with Tilly that only a few people would benefit from legalization. I think the whole nation would be much better off. Police would be freed from chasing drug users and able to spend more time on other crimes, prison crowding would be decreased, disease spread would be lessened (through availability of clean needles) and with decreases in violence associated with drug use crime rates would drop. As for studies, the rates of drug use in the Netherlands are much lower than in the US for cocaine, marijuana, and heroin despite their policy of tolerance. (These data are available from the Center for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam.)