Pubdate: Wed, 02 Jul 2003 Source: Bradenton Herald (FL) Copyright: 2003 Bradenton Herald Contact: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradentonherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/58 Author: John Chase LEGALIZE DRUGS Re: Editorial about 14th Street cleanup, the drug war causes addiction and prostitution to be far worse than they would be if these drugs had been left alone. My grandparents' generation learned during alcohol prohibition of the 1920s that driving a drug underground causes more societal damage than it prevents. It is a difficult lesson for us because we cannot remember life before drug prohibition, as they could for the drug alcohol. The turning point in alcohol prohibition came when women began to change sides. In April 1930, WONPR (Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform) endorsed a unanimous resolution that read in part: ". . . We are convinced that National Prohibition, wrong in principle, has been equally disastrous in consequences in the hypocrisy, the corruption, the tragic loss of life and the appalling increase of crime which have attended the abortive attempt to enforce it; in the shocking effect it has had upon the youth of the nation; in the impairment of constitutional guarantees of individual rights; in the weakening of the sense of solidarity between the citizen and the government which is the only sure basis of a country's strength." These words fit today's policy of drug prohibition. Tobacco is as addictive as the most addictive illegal drug, and alcohol is as intoxicating as the most intoxicating illegal drug. But neither of these drugs is sold on the street because there is no profit, and very few women prostitute themselves for them. It is fine to clean up 14th Street, but also consider that the only permanent solution is to take these drugs off the street the only way possible: legalize them. JOHN CHASE Palm Harbor - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFlorida)