PROHIBITION NEVER WORKS

Before gaining access to the public ear in The Detroit News, supporters of
prohibitionary policy such as Susan L. Hiltz should be required to show
whether prohibition does or does not deliver its purported goals. In fact,
all major studies of prohibitions throughout the ages show that they
reliably exacerbate the very problems they intend to remedy. This was the
major reason why alcohol prohibition in the United States was repealed.

If "legalizing drugs ... sends a dangerous message to our children and our
communities," as Hiltz insists, what message is transmitted by insistence
on following a doctrine that simply does not work and never did?

Peter Webster Review Editor International Journal of Drug Policy Auvare, France