WAR ON DRUGS

BARRINGTON -- As columnist Salim Muwakkil pointed out in "The drug
war's collateral damage" (Commentary, May 10), our nation's war on
drugs is far more damaging to the fabric of our society than is drug
addiction itself.

This isn't to say drug addiction isn't a problem. It is, just as
alcoholism is a problem. But alcoholics needn't commit a robbery for
money to buy booze. Unlike during Prohibition, today there's little
corruption associated with alcohol because it's legal and cheap.

Addiction to cigarettes certainly is a health problem, and it's
obvious that nicotine affects smokers' brains and moods. But, good or
bad, smokers want cigarettes. Make cigarettes illegal and you'll make
criminals out of smokers as well as the enterprising individuals who
want to supply them with smokes.

Smokers would have their cars and homes confiscated. They'd be jailed.
Sound far-fetched? It used to happen with alcohol.

Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to futilely wage a
war on drug addiction with prison sentences, spend a fraction of that
amount on public education against drug abuse.