PROHIBITION ON DRUGS DOESN'T WORK

Whether or not the movie Traffic -- Oscar-nominated for best picture
- -- accurately portrays U.S. drug policy continues to be a point of
contention. A few high-level government bureaucrats say nay, but
box-office receipts and the high praise from the masses seem to
suggest otherwise ("Nation waits for insanity to stop in the drug
war," Hype & Glory column, News, March 23).

The history of the "war on drugs" speaks volumes to the futility of
this social experiment gone awry. The past is clear, but what does the
future hold?

As the failure of this policy becomes obvious, more and more countries
around the world are beginning to refuse to support the misguided,
delusional, pork-barrel excesses of this so-called war on drugs, which
is nothing more than a directionless disaster.

Hardly a week passes when the leader of another country doesn't
suggest that some form of legalization is in order. Most recently the
presidents of Uruguay and Mexico spoke the unspeakable.

With the cries for demand reduction at home and the current law
enforcement dilemma with racial profiling, the next predictable step
is to carry the war to the suburbs. It has already occurred in
Milwaukee and is soon to come to a neighborhood near you.

Middle-class white America is fertile ground for the drug war, but the
outcry will be deafening.

When the war, truly comes home, it will end. The lesson learned here
is the following: Prohibition doesn't work. Pass on the word.

Mike Plylar

Kremmling, Colo.