BAD DRUG POLICY

Editor:

Many people took note of the super bowl commercials, which claimed that
drug users were funding terrorists. While it is technically true that much
drug smuggling is done by terrorist groups, the accusation that drug users
are funding terrorism makes as much sense as accusing alcoholics of
supporting Al Capone during the prohibition period of the 1920s.

Were there not tremendous profits to be made in drug smuggling, terrorist
groups wouldn't be using it as a method of raising money. Prohibitionist
policies have created a lucrative black market that is allowing criminals
of all sorts to profit from drugs, not the users.

Ari Elias-Bachrach, President,
Washington University Students for Sensible Drug Policy,
St. Louis, Mo.