PROFITEERS GETTING RICH FROM WAR ON DRUGS

I'm writing about Froma Harrop's outstanding Dec. 19 column, "Drug
warriors make millions off marijuana." I'd like to add that perhaps
the so-called drug warriors are making money off the drug war in ways
that are not obvious. To understand how, we should study the history
of U.S. alcohol prohibition.

The gangster Al Capone made most of his illegal money from alcohol
prohibition. Capone often bragged that he "owned" the city of Chicago.
Obviously, he didn't own all of the city of Chicago; however, he had
most or all of the politicians and police who ran the city on his
payroll. Al Capone was a successful businessman and it's not
unreasonable to suspect that the drug cartels of today are following
his business model. It's also not unreasonable to suspect that the
drug cartels may have many politicians and police officials on their
payroll. Obviously, the type of politicians the drug cartels would
have on their payroll are those who advocate the continuation of the
status quo of drug prohibition, which is making the drug cartels so
fabulously wealthy.

I'm not saying that any specific so-called drug warrior is on the
payroll of the drug cartels. I'm just a little suspicious of the
motives of all the drug-war cheerleaders.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.