ORGANIZATION AGAINST 'DRUG PROHIBITION,' FOR LEGALIZATION

Editor's note: The Mountain Press received several letters from subscribers
to www.mapink.org in response to our Sept. 13 editorial concerning the
connections between illegal drug use and terrorist activities. The
following letter is representative of their views. -j.p.

Editor: Referring to your editorial of Sept. 13 concerning illegal drug use
supports terrorism - somewhere along the way, the media has lost its sense
of worth and responsibilities. It used to be that the press acted as a
constant challenger to the statements made by the government. The Soviet
Union had a paper like this - it was called Pravda. But, consider history,
did alcohol drinkers in the '20s support terrorism? No doubt, they
supported organized crime, but citizens came around to the nonsense of
alcohol prohibition, recognized that no country in the world will ever be
alcohol free, and then, ended prohibition in order to deal with alcohol use
as a public health issue, instead of a criminal justice issue. Why do we,
as a society, allow for this? There are three entities that can control the
manufacture and distribution of drugs in America (well, really, anywhere).
They are: the government, the free market system and Al Capone. Why do we
leave such serious items as marijuana, heroin and cocaine issue to the
neo-Al Capones? If the War on Drugs was effective, wouldn't drug use go down?

Wouldn't we see the end to violence on our streets, an end to overdoses?
Drug Prohibition, like Alcohol Prohibition, will never work. So let's quit
this crusade and take away the commodity of the criminals.

Mike Smithson

Camillus, N.Y.