PROHIBITION OF DRUGS NOT BASED UPON FACTS

Editor, the Tribune: Many thanks to the Tribune for a much-needed
editorial, "Mexico and the drug war," on Jan. 22.

Many salient points were made and important questions raised, but the
problem is those in charge don't and won't listen or even discuss the
topic publicly.

When first appointed as our nation's chief of the White House Office
of National Drug Control Policy, former Seattle police Chief Gil
Kerlikowske admitted the word "legalization" wasn't even in his
vocabulary. In such a context, I doubt our drug czar will ever
publicly debate the issue or ever hold an unscripted interview with
journalists.

Most troubling to me about this Prohibition II is that not only has
it been a gross failure, but it was founded upon not a shred of
factual data. The whole of drug prohibition is a fraud and based upon
blatant racism and xenophobic fictions.

The end result of such fraudulent lawmaking is obvious. Our nation,
once proud to be called the "Land of the Free," has become the "Land
of the Most Incarcerated." We should be ashamed to have let this get
so far out of hand.

The drug cartels and the drug war profiteers and bureaucrats will be
loath to loosen their grip on Prohibition II because it truly is
their golden egg-laying goose.

Allan Erickson

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