Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Copyright: 2000 Los Angeles Times Contact: Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053 Fax: (213) 237-4712 Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Forum: http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/ Author: David Schwankle Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n831/a06.htm OFFICER CANDIDATES' PAST DRUG USE "Past Drug Use, Future Cops" (June 18), revealing the extent of police candidates' histories of drug use, is yet more evidence of the hypocrisy of drug prohibition or, rather, the hypocrisy of prohibiting some drugs. The question that needs to be asked is: Who profits from continued prohibition and whom do the current drug laws serve? Clearly, while politicians bluster about the scourge of "drugs," oversimplifying the problem in the process, these laws and the threat they pose to our civil liberties are far more dangerous than the use of illegal substances. David Schwankle Riverside - --- MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst