Pubdate: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: William Tate Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) PROHIBITIONISTS GIVE CRIMINALS THEIR POWER Thank you for your series of articles on organized crime in B.C. What they make crystal clear is that it is not marijuana, heroin or any other drug that has created their power, wealth and influence, but rather smug, self-righteous prohibitionists. If tea and coffee were banned, and marijuana and other drugs legalized, these gangs would become coffee and tea merchants, in short order. Just as in the U.S. during the '20s, with Al Capone and his gang, it wasn't the booze that made him powerful, but its prohibition. People will have their pleasures and pursuits in a free society, no matter how influential the smug, self-satisfied prohibitionists become. William Tate, Victoria. - ---