PROHIBITION STILL FAILS

The Herald is right to be alarmed by the many teens using marijuana,
but the cause is the prohibition on the drug, not the movement to
legalize it (" Generation up in smoke?" Dec. 27). The same federal
survey also found that teen use of alcohol and tobacco - two legal
and age-regulated substances - is sharply falling.

That teens have an easier time getting their hands on illegal
marijuana than legal and regulated drugs shows that prohibition is
ineffective in keeping our kids safe. Only by ending prohibition can
we take marijuana (and its profits) away from street dealers and
begin to control its use and distribution.

- - Karen Hawkes, Rowley The writer is a retired state trooper active
with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.