Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Copyright: 2005 Lexington Herald-Leader Contact: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240 Author: Charles Byrnes DRUG PROHIBITION FEEDS, BREEDS CRIMINAL ACTIVITY How many times do we have to remind everyone of the dangers of prohibition - -- now masquerading as the "dangers of drugs and drug use" -- before people wake up? How many more people will have to go to jail for possession, selling, growing and manufacturing drugs before we realize there is a better way? How many more innocent people will have to die in drive-by shootings and mistaken home raids (by cops and crooks) before we try another approach, one that is demonstrated every day to be a better solution than prohibition? Who is killing or robbing for a Budweiser or a Marlboro? How much more will terrorists, gangs and crooked cops earn off the black market created by prohibition before it's enough? The government must take the money out of the hands of criminal organizations. Start using our tax dollars -- the money politicians have been throwing away for the last 30-plus years on this failed war on drugs - -- to regulate and educate. If not, prohibition will keep feeding and breeding criminal activity. The studies have been done. The jury is in. Prohibition does not work. Charles Byrnes Taylor Mill - --- MAP posted-by: Beth