ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGNS MISGUIDED, PROHIBITION

Since Jim Abbott is so concerned about kids and drugs, he should
surely be able to answer a simple question:

Historically speaking, what is the biggest single cause of drug
epidemics among children?

But, surprise, surprise, the man who claims to be solving this
terrible problem couldn't answer this simple question, even if it
meant saving his own kids. He will likely guess "peer pressure" --
like most people do -- and he will be dead wrong. That is, some kids
will be dead because he was wrong.

The biggest single cause of epidemics among children is hysterical,
misguided, anti-drug campaigns. The first example was the huge teen
drinking epidemic during US alcohol prohibition. Prohibition was
passed with a campaign of "Save the Children From Alcohol" - which is
not too far from Abbott's current campaign. Within five years there
were record numbers of children in courts and hospitals for alcohol
problems. Schools had to cancel dances because so many kids showed up
drunk. The average age at which people started drinking dropped
dramatically. Many children became involved in the bootlegging trade.
Early supporters of Prohibition turned against it because Prohibition
made it easier than ever for their kids to get alcohol.

Prohibition was repealed with a campaign of "Save the Children From
Alcohol." We proved conclusively that prohibition doesn't remove drugs
from society - it just removes all the legal controls and turns the
business over to organized crime.

Other examples of teen drug epidemics caused by anti-drug campaigns
include the rise of LSD, meth, and glue sniffing, among others.

Mr. Abbott would know this if he had read just one of the major
studies of the subject -- the Consumers Union Report on Licit and
Illicit Drugs at
http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm

But he never read it, and he probably never will. Prohibitionists
don't know anything about the subject, and they don't want to know.
That is the real drug problem.

Clifford A. Schaffer Director, Schaffer Library of Drug Policy
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer

Agua Dulce, CA 91390