KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuter) Jamaica's former police
commissioner said Monday consideration should be given to
legalizing drugs rather than spending scarce resources on drug
interdiction.

Col. Trevor MacMillan said legalization would cut the profit
motive in the trade and money now spent fighting the trafficking
could instead be used in education campaigns as is now the case
with tobacco and alcohol.

U.S. drug officials say Jamaica is the largest exporter of
marijuana in the Caribbean and is a major shipping point for
Colombian cocaine bound for North America.

``I'm suggesting that one of the ways to deal with the whole
drug trafficking problem is to legalize it, and spend the money
now spent fighting the trade on education and rehabilitation,''
MacMillan said during a U.S. Information Service satellite
broadcast.

The excommissioner, who now heads up a private security
firm, noted the role Prohibition played in the creation and
expansion of organized crime in the United States and said the
same was happening with the drug trade and the major cartels.

MacMillan, one of the most popular commissioners in recent
history, was forced to retire last year following a dispute with
the government over the renewal of his contract.