POT PROHIBITION HAS BACKFIRED

Alan Shinn's organization, the Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii,
believes in prohibition, an approach to drug control that has failed
miserably ("Pot dispensaries not working in Colorado" Letters,
Star-Advertiser, April 16).

He claims that "Colorado law enforcement reports the lack of
controls, increased crime and violence and the lowered quality of
life in neighborhoods with dispensaries are hardly worth the
projected tax revenues."

That's what happens when you have a black market created by
prohibition while trying to allow for medical use, and all the while
having police and politicians (who've made careers on being
anti-drug) resisting the voters' intent.

In tough times like these, people like Shinn should reexamine the
impact of their beliefs and consider the waste and destruction their
misguided policies have wrought on society. If they'd cooperate to
find a way to minimize the negatives of drug use, this whole argument
could be over, like the one over alcohol prohibition.

Keith Brilhart

Honolulu