Pubdate: Thu, 04 Jan 2001
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2001 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact:  501 N. Calvert Street P.0. Box 1377 Baltimore, MD 21278
Fax: (410) 315-8912
Website: http://www.sunspot.net/
Forum: http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/ultbb/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro
Author: Henry Cohen

PROHIBITION, NOT ADDICTION, CAUSES MOST OF OUR CRIME

The writer of the recent letter "State's do-nothing senators leave 
drug plague unchecked" (Dec. 28), says that, "as a lawyer for 27 
years," he knows that the underlying cause of the crime problem in 
Baltimore "is the use and distribution of mind-altering illegal 
drugs."

As a lawyer for 25 years, I can assure you that being a lawyer gives 
one no special insight into the cause of crime. This is demonstrated 
by the fact that Mr. Ficker misses the obvious: It is drug 
prohibition, not drugs, that causes most crime. Alcoholics do not 
commit muggings and burglaries to pay for their addiction. Alcohol 
dealers to not commit murders to preserve their market share. This is 
because alcohol is legal.

Henry Cohen
Baltimore
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