END DRUG HYSTERIA

Prohibition doesn't work and never has. The drug war is an utter failure.
After more than 30 years and more than a trillion dollars, the problem is
worse - worse even than in the days when opiates were available over the
counter, cocaine was in popular drinks and marijuana was growing free.

I am not advocating the use of these substances. But I am a father and
grandfather of children soon to tread the treacherous teen years, and I
would much rather see a state-regulated legal market than the current
corrupting unregulated black market. And personally, I find pathetic the
shameless use of personal tragedies to promote an unconstitutional drug war.
Police agencies and their suppliers have a vested monetary interest in
keeping their police-state-like powers - including unconstitutional seizure
and theft of the property of citizens - in place.

The hypocrisy of our leaders, the lies that are told to our children, an
overburdened justice system and the turning of millions of Americans into
criminals for the possession of natural plants that come from are God are
causing more problems than if these same substances were state-regulated and
taxed.

Alcohol, heroin and cocaine all show approximately the same ratio of addicts
or abusers to users -10 percent or less, hardly a proportion requiring mass
hysteria. Cigarettes produce a rate of addiction higher than 50 percent in
occasional users. Cigarettes kill 400,000 Americans a year. Alcohol kills
150,000. All illegal drugs combined kill about 6,000. Bathroom accidents
kill more people. The hysteria about drugs is propaganda.

Drug peace, not war.

R.A. KRIS MILLEGAN
Noti