TIME FOR A CHANGE

Re "Neither high nor dry," Opinion, Oct. 5

Kevin A. Sabet argues that the country's disastrous experience with
alcohol prohibition does not stand as an example of why the war on
drugs must change. He misses a very basic point.

The reason Prohibition didn't work and why the laws against drugs
don't work is the same: People's desire to alter their consciousness,
whether through alcohol or what are classified as "drugs," will not go
away simply because of a law.

In a country where individual freedom is cherished above virtually
everything else, it is time to do away with the draconian drug laws
that violate our freedom to make choices in our lives, even when the
choices are bad ones.

Jeff Berke

Los Angeles