'END THIS INSANITY'

Thank you for publishing Robert Sharpe's outstanding letter, "Institutional
corruption," on Jan. 15. Our prohibition of recreational drugs has proven
to be just as counterproductive as alcohol prohibition. It has corrupted
all levels of government from the cops on the beat and prison guards to
heads of government.

If we can't keep illegal drugs out of high-security prisons, we certainly
are not going to be able to keep drugs from getting into our country with
thousands of miles of international boarders and coastline. Almost all of
our so-called drug-related crime is actually drug prohibition caused crime.
Nobody was robbing, stealing or committing acts of prostitution to get
money to buy drugs at the beginning of the last century. That's because
Bayer heroin was available at local pharmacies for about the same price as
Bayer aspirin. Also Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine and
sold for five cents a bottle.

If we re-legalized recreational drugs they could be taxed, regulated and
controlled by our government. Now drugs are untaxed, unregulated and
controlled by criminal gangs and terrorists.

Let's end this insanity now!

Kirk Muse