HISTORY SHOWS DRUG BANS ARE USELESS

PETER TRICKETT (Letters, 11 April) takes Geoff Page ("The great
sidestep on heroin", CT, 7 April, p.9) to task for arguing "that
highly addictive and dangerous drugs of abuse such as heroin and
cocaine should be put on the same legal footing as tobacco and alcohol
. . ."

After a disastrous 14-year attempt to ban alcohol, the Federal
Government of the USA permitted local government to regulate the
manufacture and sale of alcohol.

Organised crime got out of the alcohol trade, and the warfare on the
streets was greatly reduced. The public was again able to know the
quality of alcoholic beverages purchased. It did not consume more than
it had during prohibition, although prohibition had encouraged the
consumption of hard liquor over drinks like beer and wine.

The USA and Australia have pursued the hard line on illicit drugs, and
each country has experienced a steadily increasing consumption of hard
drugs by an ever-younger cross-section of its population.

PETER WATNEY
Holt