DRUG WAR PROHIBITION WON'T HALT DRUGS

Your article about motivational speaker Milton Creagh appearing at
the UT's student union auditorium to a crowd of 40, when the local DEA
agent and police departments expected a thousand should not surprise anyone.

Except for a handful of diehard Prohibitionists, the public is starting to
realize that just like the alcohol Prohibition, the Drug War Prohibition is
not working, can not work, and is much more costly to our society and our
freedoms than any problems caused by drug use.

The first great Prohibition ended when the public realized that instead of
protecting society, and our children, from the deadly drug alcohol, it
simply created an illegal market, organized crime, and criminals who found
kids valuable not just as customers but as active participants in their
enterprises.

So now we have another great Prohibition. Kids are the street merchants,
with plenty of money to be made. The criminal justice industry is a growth
industry, with about half of all prisoners being drug war criminals while
we let loose violent criminals to make room for them. Property is
confiscated, with no person convicted of any crime in the majority of
forfeiture cases. The military is assisting police, and just killed an
American high school student in Texas.

The Prohibitionist solution did not work for alcohol, it will not work for
tobacco, and it has not worked for drugs. Carefully regulated markets work
best to control our legal recreational drugs. Even though they frequently
need fine tuning, consumption has been reduced. Tightly regulated markets
can do a far better job of protecting our kids from all drugs.

Just ask the DARE generation why their drug use is on the rise. Ask the
kids the last time they were "carded" by their drug dealing friends.

The public is starting to understand that the Prohibitionist solution has
not worked, and it is time to look for alternatives to their War.

Richard Lake,
Sylvania, Ohio