FRIEDMAN WAS RIGHT ABOUT DRUG WAR

I'm writing about Travis Morse's Nov. 17 story: "Defenders, critics
assess drug laws in Illinois." Last week our nation lost an
intellectual giant with the passing of economist Milton Friedman. In
1972, Friedman wrote an oped in Newsweek magazine titled:
"Prohibition and Drugs." Friedman's essay was written before crack
cocaine was invented, before methamphetamine was a household word and
long before the United States became the most incarcerated nation in
the history of human civilization. Friedman also wrote in the Sept.
7, 1989, edition of The Wall Street Journal: "An Open Letter To Bill
Bennett." Both of these works are available to read online.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.