WHO BENEFITS IN COUNTRY'S ONGOING WAR ON DRUGS?

Drugs are more available, more pure and less expensive than ever
before. The trillion dollars spent on prohibition has been of great
benefit - for the drug cartels.

On Dec. 13, the outgoing chair of the United States Government Reform
Committee, Dan Burton, stated: "Don't just talk about killing people
like Pablo Escobar, who is going to be replaced. What would happen if
we started addressing how to get the profit out of drugs?"

In 1995, former CIA Director William Colby stated: "The Latin American
drug cartels have stretched their tentacles much deeper into our lives
than most people believe. It's possible they are calling the shots at
all levels of government."

Even Galveston County Sheriff Gean Leonard glimpsed the light; he
states: "I 've been at it for 30 years and I don't see an end to drug
trafficking." After 88 years of prohibition, shouldn't we determine
who really benefits from this drug war?

DEAN BECKER

President, Houston NORML