SEEKING TRUTH IN THE DRUG WAR

Ending prohibition is not about drugs, but about ending the evil
empire of the drug lords and their network of drug dealers.

As one who has researched the failures of our drug policy for much of
the past 10 years, I want to thank the Trib, Ethan Nadelmann of the
Drug Policy Alliance, and National Review magazine for more dialogue
about ending the prohibition on marijuana ("Protesting the drug war,"
Q&A with Bill Steigerwald, July 10).

Prohibition is an economic system that inevitably enriches criminals
who use their profits to make the drug problem worse. Ending
prohibition is not about drugs, but about ending the evil empire of
the drug lords and their network of drug dealers. Right now we are
financing our worst enemy.

My suggestion is to revisit the old call of Walter Cronkite and
numerous experts at the Hoover Institution for a much-needed
independent federal commission on marijuana -- we haven't had one
since 1982 -- to provide scientific information and ideas to the
public that are free of political spin. It would provide a focus for
media attention.

The public should have easy access to little-known government-funded
reports, including those that show that:

# Prohibition has surrendered control and made marijuana easier for
most of our young to get than alcohol -- and involved them in sales.

# Marijuana is markedly safer than alcohol.

# The immense burden of 700,000 annual marijuana arrests on the
criminal justice system -- more than for murder, rape, robbery and
armed assault combined -- makes it far less effective, detracting from
prosecution of violent crime and homeland security.

# Enormous fiscal costs could be replaced with substantial tax
revenues.

Jerry Epstein

Houston, Texas