OFFICER CANDIDATES' PAST DRUG USE

"Past Drug Use, Future Cops" (June 18), revealing the extent of police
candidates' histories of drug use, is yet more evidence of the hypocrisy of
drug prohibition or, rather, the hypocrisy of prohibiting some drugs.

The question that needs to be asked is: Who profits from continued
prohibition and whom do the current drug laws serve? Clearly, while
politicians bluster about the scourge of "drugs," oversimplifying the
problem in the process, these laws and the threat they pose to our civil
liberties are far more dangerous than the use of illegal substances.

David Schwankle
Riverside