Katie Grant

Katie Grant is a columnist and book reviewer for the Spectator, a weekly British magazine. In the following viewpoint she argues that drug legalization is a class issue. If heroin were legalized, the middle class would be able to afford to buy their drugs from an approved government source but the poor would still be forced to buy heroin from black market pushers. Grant also asserts that it is the illegality of heroin that keeps many children from trying the drug in the first place. Drug addiction is a serious problem, she maintains, one that will not be fixed by legalizing drugs.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How do socially deprived communities see the current debate about drug legalization, according to Grant?
2. What leads to drug-taking in poor communities, in the author’s...