DRUG PROHIBITION AT ROOT OF PROBLEM

Regarding the homicides in Fort Pierce, Anthony Westbury's Editor's
Notebook on a recent Sunday was very well done. Finally, a local
editor has asked the essential question in trying to understand at
least part of the problem: "Why would a young man with any street
sense at all be tempted by a dead-end, minimum wage job when selling
drugs is so much more lucrative?" Indeed. He then goes on to wonder
about viable economic alternatives to the illegal drug trade.

I would answer him that there are no viable economic alternatives to
the illegal drug trade, and the reasons for that are simple economic
laws and relationships that have been known to mankind for centuries.
In a nutshell, supply and demand and black market dynamics. The
intrinsic value of illegal drugs is very low. In and of themselves,
they are worth only pennies or less. Powders, pills and herbs that
cost pennies to produce suddenly become worth their weight in gold
because they have been declared contraband by some government edict.

That may sound like an oversimplification to some readers, but it is
not. Any economist will tell you that, and our Nobel Laureate Milton
Friedman pointed that out decades ago, but those in power do not like
to discuss it.

That most basic economic relationships have been obscured and swept
under the carpet for a variety of reasons, mostly sinister in my
opinion. That obscuration has been accompanied by a substantial amount
of fear mongering and political correctness, and the firing of Jocelyn
Elders by the presumably liberal Bill Clinton is testimony to just how
forbidden the discussion is.

There is no doubt in my mind that there is some connection between the
illegal drug trade in Fort Pierce and the rate of homicide here. That
connection was clearly established in virtually every city in the land
during the days of liquor prohibition. Whereas the "noble experiment"
of liquor prohibition lasted only 13 years, the other drug prohibition
has been going on for 88 years now, and the social pathologies
generated by it are in full bloom and well entrenched. Fort Pierce's
problems are merely typical of many other cities around the county.

With the outstanding and proud exceptions of Jocelyn Elders and Kurt
Schmoke, former mayor of Baltimore, black leaders on the national
level are shamefully silent about informing a grossly misinformed
public about the relationship between prohibition and violence. I
cannot think of a single black leader on the local level who has had
the courage to discuss these simple truths in any public forum. Of
course, the same could be said of nearly any white leader, too, and
that demonstrates just how timid our leaders are, black or white.
Rather than discuss alternative approaches, they seem to be willing to
wring their hands and offer lip service while young men shoot each
other over drug deals. That is really scandalous.

Thank you, Anthony Westbury, for having the fortitude to ask the
question nobody likes to discuss. You have fulfilled your civic and
professional duty. Let's hope that someone else might be moved. The
only way meaningful change will happen is through a rational and
informed public dialogue. Do we have what it takes?

Richard Sinnott, Fort Pierce