The U.S. is experiencing the worst wave of police corruption since
alcohol Prohibition put law enforcement on the skids in the 1920s and
'30s. During the alcohol ban, bootleggers with an abundance of cash
corrupted the police; now our lunatic drug prohibition programs
provide irresistible temptations to a new generation of cops.

Virtually every police department in the country has been touched by
a police scandal in the last few years. Invariably the cause of this
corruption is a failed drug prohibition policy that supplies limitless
amounts of cash to pervert and corrupt law enforcement. Before long it
will be the same as when Al Capone bragged, "Half the cops in Chicago
are on my payroll."

It's time to end a drug prohibition scheme that accomplishes nothing
useful, while destroying the integrity of the police and every other
agency that comes into contact with it.

Redford Givens,
San Francisco