DRUG PROHIBITION COSTLY TO AMERICA

As a retired police officer with 18 years experience, I am surprised
that in 2006 you still say that "crime is driven by drugs" ("Budget
cuts: What happened to drug 'war?' " Oct. 5 editorial).

It is the prohibition of drugs which causes 75 percent of felony
crime - not the use. If we were as wise as our grandparents and ended
the new prohibition, we would experience a tremendous drop in felony crime.

Also, a serious drop in DUI deaths would result because then officers
could focus on drunk drivers instead of Willie Nelson.

As Thomas Paine wrote in The American Crisis in 1776: "Those who
expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the
fatigue of supporting it."

Howard J. Wooldridge

Member

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Frederick, Md.