TALK EXPOSED FAILURE OF 'WAR'

Bravo to Clifford Thornton, who spoke at Branford High School, for exposing
the drug war for what it is: a miserable failure.

Alcohol prohibition was ended, in part, because it completely failed to
meet one of its proponents' most dubious claims: that prohibition protects
young people.

Similarly, today's drug war is responsible for most of the damage
attributed to currently illegal drugs. One need only look at Connecticut's
prison population for evidence of the drug war's massive failure.

Drug abuse is a medical problem; drug-related gangs and shootings are
problems caused by prohibition.

The Branford High students must have found Thornton's arguments very
refreshing after being inundated with pro-drug war propaganda.

Ned Pocengal, New Haven