LEGALIZE DRUGS

I disagree with your May 26 editorial Jamaica's day of reckoning. The
violence in Jamaica is because of drug prohibition, not in spite of
it.

The U.S. drug war has done little other than give us the highest
incarceration rate in the world. Zero tolerance hasn't deterred use.

The United States has higher rates of drug use than European Union
countries that have decriminalized.

Drug prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism
abroad, which is then used to justify increased drug war spending.

It's time to end the madness and treat all substance abuse, legal or
otherwise, as the public-health problem it is.

Mandatory minimum prison sentences, civil asset forfeiture, random
drug testing and racial profiling are not necessarily the most
cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices.

ROBERT SHARPE, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Washington, D.C.