HASTERT'S SOROS ALLEGATIONS

House Speaker Dennis Hastert's recent claim that George Soros might be
getting his fortune from drug cartels reveals his profound
misunderstanding of the illegal drug market ("Soros blasts Hastert over
drug allegation," Aug. 31).

Did Al Capone campaign to end Prohibition? Of course not. Prohibition
of alcohol is what made the bootleg liquor trade -- and its enormous
profits for organized crime -- possible. Replacement of Prohibition
with the current system of alcohol regulation put the bootleggers out
of business, wiping out a huge source of wealth for gangsters and criminals.

As with alcohol, prohibition of marijuana has created a vast criminal
underground with huge profits for those willing to take the risks. The
last thing these criminal networks want is to bring marijuana out of
this underground and into a regulated market, because such a policy
would put them out of business.

Our current policies are exactly what the drug cartels want them to
be, and elected officials like Hastert are their unwitting stooges.

Bruce Mirken, director of communications, Marijuana Policy Project

Washington, D.C.