DRUGS FOR EVERYONE!

Dear Editor:

That organized crime thrives under prohibition is not news and should not
surprise anyone.

Anyone who just realized that it's organized crime operating many grow
houses hasn't been paying attention. Those who have been paying attention
and who are capable of learning lessons from history know that it is the
prohibition of marijuana -- not the government's alleged lax attitude
towards it -- that makes the marijuana growing industry profitable to
organized criminal gangs.

Marijuana growers proliferate in the United States where it is not subject
to custom's inspections and where the drug laws are harsh. Prohibition
removes all government controls over the distribution of marijuana and it
is this reason why children find it easier to obtain marijuana than alcohol
or tobacco, not the proximity of the grow house to the school.

Of course, decriminalization -- short of outright legalization -- will only
make matters worse.

That is why you should ignore Ambassador Cellucci and his shrill complaints
about marijuana legalization leading to tighter borders. If the attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon weren't enough for the U.S. to
tighten its borders, a little marijuana certainly won't do it. Thomas J.
Hillgardner Jamaica, New York