DRUGS, CRIME PROHIBITION-RELATED

IN RESPONSE

Re the June 20 article Graft inquiry targets pair of officers: The crimes
allegedly committed by Opa-locka police officers Robert Kukowinski and
William Booker bring to mind the Los Angeles Police Department scandal that
involved anti-drug officers selling drugs and framing gang members. This
form of institutional corruption stretches from coast to coast and reaches
the highest levels.

Entire countries have been corrupted by the drug trade. It's no coincidence
that Colombians began emigrating to Miami in droves immediately after the
U.S. government started pouring billions into the drug war. Limiting supply
while demand remains constant increases the profitability of trafficking.

Drug-related crime is prohibition-related. With alcohol-prohibition
repealed, liquor bootleggers no longer gun each other down, nor do
consumers go blind drinking bathtub gin. While U.S. politicians ignore the
precedent, European countries are embracing harm reduction, a public-health
alternative based on the idea that both drug use and prohibition can cause
harm.

Examples of harm reduction include needle exchanges to stop the spread of
HIV, and marijuana regulation aimed at separating the hard- and soft-drug
markets.

Unfortunately, fear of appearing soft on crime compels politicians to
support a failed drug war that only subsidizes organized crime.

ROBERT SHARPE

Program Officer
Drug Policy Alliance