David Nyhan's Focus column (Globe 2/23) got right to the heart of this
nation's "drug problem"--prohibition. By making adult drug use illegal, our
government creates an instant multi-billion dollar industry.

Prohibition guarantees drug cartels, guarantees billion-dollar
bureaucracies to fight a government-created "crime", guarantees gang
killings, guarantees parentless children, guarantees police corruption,
guarantees an excuse for racism by authorities, and guarantees a general
cynicism and disrespect for all laws and authority by arbitrarily making
someone a criminal for doing nothing more than making a personal decision.

No matter how many billions are spent and how many millions are jailed, the
war against drug users can never be won short of a totalitarian state. The
only answer is regulation and education. We ended prohibition once, we must
end it again.

Carmen Yarrusso