DEALERS AND WARRIORS

To the Editor:

I read with interest Kirk Muse's logical rebuttal of Frank Powell's highly
imaginative letter to the editor, in which Powell attempted to ridicule the
idea of drug-law reform.

Muse is undoubtedly unfamiliar with Florence, or he might not have held up
Prohibition as an example of a failed policy.

I don't know how it is now, but when I lived in Florence, we enjoyed the
benefits of a local Prohibition that had endured from the days of the
Volstead Act.

Of course, the fact that Florence was "dry" prevented everyone from
drinking, just as our drug laws prevent everyone from using illicit drugs.
I can't explain the beer bottles that appeared along the road in front of
my house every Saturday night.

Perhaps someone with a good arm threw them all the way from the Tennessee line.

Seriously, even though local prohibition did nothing to stop locals from
getting drunk, it did result in the deaths of many folks on the highway
between Florence and the state-line bars. And it did foster important
friendships and financial partnerships between local religious leaders and
local bootleggers, every time someone tried to mount a "wet" referendum.

At any rate, whenever I hear someone defend our futile and destructive drug
laws, I always wonder whether he's a drug dealer or a drug warrior. After
all, if the war on drugs ever ends, both will have to go out and get real jobs.

Ray Aldridge Fort Walton Beach, Fla.