WE'RE LOSING A WAR OF CHOICE

Re: "Reshaping approaches to drug use -- We need community-based
prevention and intervention, says R. Gil Kerlikowske," Monday Viewpoints.
The statement that legalization would increase Mexican cartel
violence is just plain wrong, and there is proof in the history pages
of our own country. When prohibition was finally repealed, the
gangsters and thugs who were making all the money on illegal booze
were put out of business. Legal companies, following federal and
state laws and paying taxes, sprang up to fill the market with legal
booze, and the Al Capones of this country had to find other ways to make money.
If what Kerlikowske says were true, black-market cigarettes and
alcohol would be a widespread scourge, and they're not. Why take a
chance on getting robbed or going to jail for buying something that is legal?

Only when we start telling ourselves the truth about drugs can we
start dealing with them in a rational manner. Americans should
remember that this is a war of choice, and we are losing.

Donald Phillip Blair, Ennis