PROHIBITION, NOT ADDICTION, CAUSES MOST OF OUR CRIME

The writer of the recent letter "State's do-nothing senators leave
drug plague unchecked" (Dec. 28), says that, "as a lawyer for 27
years," he knows that the underlying cause of the crime problem in
Baltimore "is the use and distribution of mind-altering illegal
drugs."

As a lawyer for 25 years, I can assure you that being a lawyer gives
one no special insight into the cause of crime. This is demonstrated
by the fact that Mr. Ficker misses the obvious: It is drug
prohibition, not drugs, that causes most crime. Alcoholics do not
commit muggings and burglaries to pay for their addiction. Alcohol
dealers to not commit murders to preserve their market share. This is
because alcohol is legal.

Henry Cohen
Baltimore