BETTER OFF IF DRUGS WERE CONTROLLED

This year, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of alcohol
prohibition. Prohibition lasted from June 16, 1920, to Dec. 5, 1933.
Between those dates, the manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing of
alcoholic products was in the hands of criminals.

Criminals regulated and controlled an illegal alcohol market. They provided
all of the alcohol that could be consumed by anyone who wanted to buy it.
People did not go without.

On Oct. 27, 1970, President Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act. He
claimed that we could control cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other street
drugs by prohibiting their use. Instead, just like alcohol, we have given
up control of these substances to criminals.

Criminals decide who makes the drugs, who sells the drugs and who profits
from the drugs. And criminals don't even care if their products are
adulterated. Al-Qaida uses illegal drug money to finance international
terrorism.

Prohibition takes control away from the people and gives it to the criminals.

Take a moment on Dec. 5 to celebrate the end of alcohol prohibition. But
mourn the loss of our ability to control street drugs, because we have
chosen to prohibit their use.

Arnold J. Byron

Burlington