PROHIBITION A FAILURE, AGAIN

Kudos to the Daily Southtown for publishing James Gierach's excellent
op-ed, "Cops, like kids, lured by drug-war profits" (Sept. 13).

As Gierach so aptly points out our war on (some) drugs has failed.
And it has failed because it so glaringly follows the pattern of our
first Prohibition. Prohibition I (alcohol) provided Al Capone the
opportunity to go from being merely a punk to a rich and powerful man.

The costs of Prohibition II are exponentially greater than our early
20th century attempt because the corruption it creates is global.

According to the United Nations, the total yearly trade in illicit
drugs makes up 8 percent of total global trade.

Banning human nature (which Prohibition attempts) is ludicrous.
Product quality and distribution is controlled by cartels, and as
with the recent spate of fentanyl-laced heroin deaths shows, potency
and dosage is random at best.

Prohibition is a failure. Again.

We must end it. Again.

Allan Erickson

Drug Policy Forum of Oregon Eugene,

Ore.