ECSTASY'S POPULARITY

Violence Rises as Club Drug Spreads Out Into the Streets (June 24,
2001)

To the Editor:

The violent black market described in "Violence Rises as Club Drug
Spreads Out Into the Streets" (front page, June 24) would not exist
without drug prohibition.

Those who defend the drug war will counter that if Ecstasy were legal,
even more kids would be using it. But Ecstasy is now infinitely more
popular and profitable than it was before being outlawed in the mid-
1980's.

As usual, the consequences of drug prohibition are much worse than the
drugs from which we are allegedly being protected.

Stephen Young
Roselle, Ill., June 25, 2001