DRUG-PROHIBITION FUELS PROPERTY, VIOLENT CRIMES

During my 18 years as a police officer, I learned that illegal drug
use rarely caused a problem.

Letter writer Ellen Pollard's contrary assertion is flat wrong. The
prohibition of drugs fuels property and violent crime, the former to
pay the extremely high prices for illegal drugs. The violent crime
comes from drug dealers settling disputes with a gun.

As a drug-control strategy, modern prohibition has been and will
continue to be a dismal failure. Worse, it provides job opportunities
for our kids to sell drugs and it provides billions to al-Qaeda.

Howard J. Wooldridge

education specialist

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Washington, D.C.