PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK

Prohibition never equals regulation for real control at any point in the
spectrum. As one moves farther and farther toward attempting a "drug-free
society," the oversight necessary for regulation diminishes proportionally
until there is virtually no beneficial control. When an activity is made so
illegal that any participation in the trade mandates prison terms,
virtually all control over the market is lost because outlaws who defy
Draconian prohibition laws don't obey orders from the government.

Harsh sentences after the fact hardly add up to regulation. Putting
hundreds of thousands of people in prison for violating prohibition laws is
an admission of the failure of the policy, not a sign of success. Filling
our prisons with drug offenders proves that drug prohibition is not working
and never will work.

In the real world, drug prohibition abdicates market control to criminals
and corrupted officials. Prohibition laws control, suppress and regulate
very little, unless you think chasing street-level dealers from one
neighborhood to another accomplishes something. Prohibition has not
succeeded in attaining any of its original goals. Zero tolerance is a joke,
and drug use is out of government control because prohibition doesn't work.

The fundamental concept of prohibiting a substance with a market demand is
fatally flawed. Immediately, the price of the banned item skyrockets,
making it incredibly profitable for outlaws to deal in the contraband
commodity. With fortunes to be made, jailing users and dealers is an
exercise in futility because a replacement appears before the judge slams
down the gavel or the undertaker shovels the last spade full of dirt over
their bodies.

When a narco-trafficker goes down, the market doesn't even blink because
people are literally killing and dying to get into the drug trade. It
should be obvious that the laws and prisons are not working.

The solution to most of our "drug problems" is to legalize drugs for adult
use and license the dealers and manufacturers. Legalization won't eliminate
drugs, but it will eliminate all the problems associated with an illegal
black market. A licensing scheme similar to that used for alcohol would put
the criminals out of business overnight. Bootleggers couldn't compete in
the legal alcohol market after repeal, and neither will the drug cartels be
able to compete against licensed drug dealers regulated by the state.

With legalization, drug use by children could be reduced considerably
because licensed dealers won't risk their businesses selling to minors.
With prohibition, children are totally vulnerable to drugs because black
market dealers have nothing to lose by selling to all comers. A legal
market restricted to adults would greatly reduce drug use among the young,
exactly the same way repeal stopped the epidemic of children's drinking
that went on during alcohol prohibition.

The prohibitionists get excited by the word "legalization," but it really
means returning some measure of control and regulation to society. It's
time to abandon drug prohibition and regulate the drug market.

Redford Givens/ San Francisco, Calif.