STOP THE DRUG WAR

First, I would like to commend Mike Nolan for taking a critical look at the
"war" our government has been fighting for the last 65 years.

Since 1937, when marijuana was prohibited, our country has spent half a
trillion dollars on the drug war. It has since expanded to fight the use of
drugs like ecstasy, heroin and cocaine.

What the government has not learned yet is that it cannot legislate
morality.

Prohibition did not work for alcohol, and it will never work for drugs.

Our government, and particularly the Bush administration, has elevated the
drug war to a height previously unseen. They bombard us with ads full of
lies and misinformation, they deny financial aid to more than 100,000
students trying to go to college and they even send out spokespersons to
campaign against state and municipal legislation with our tax dollars.

The FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2000 reports they arrest over 735,000
marijuana users annually.

Think about the man-hours our police are forced to spend just on marijuana
crimes each year. On average, each arrest take three hours.

That's over 2.2 million hours of police time wasted on non-violent,
victimless crimes, instead of focusing on violent crimes such as murder,
rape and theft.

Our nation needs to evaluate its priorities. Do we want cops arresting pot
smokers or rapists and murders?

This issue is especially relevant now, at a time when our country is
constantly on elevated alert.

I want to end this letter with a quote from one of our most influential
leaders, Abraham Lincoln. "Prohibition =85 goes beyond the bounds of reason
in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a
crime out of things that are not crimes.

A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our
government was founded," December, 1840.

Frank Nardulli Senior in Las