A WAR WE CAN'T WIN

While I can understand Mary Mitchell's anger at police corruption and
drug-dealing gangs in her neighborhood [column, May 16], I don't understand
why she supports the same old system of drug prohibition. If she took a step
back, she might be able to see that is the root of the other problems.

If it weren't for the massive profits available through drug prohibition,
gangs would not be naturally drawn to the business of dealing. Despite the
risks of selling on the streets, they gain the power and influence that drug
dealing brings. Likewise, those same massive profits corrupt police. Most of
the investigations into police corruption feature a common theme: money from
illegal drugs. That's the way is was in Ford Heights and the Austin
neighborhood a couple years ago, and apparently the way it is in Maywood and
Bellwood now.

By fighting illegal drugs, the best Mitchell and her neighbors can hope for
is to push the problem into a different neighborhood. It will not just
disappear.

Stephen Young, Roselle