(Center of Ed page around an illustration showing a giant Uncle Sam
skewering tiny people with a hypodermic needleillustration is better
than my wordsleft out words in brackets[])

To the Editors: 2/24/97

David Nyhan's Focus column (Globe 2/23) got right to the heart of this
nation's "drug problem"prohibition. By making adult drug use illegal,
our
government creates an instant multibillion dollar industry [and forfeits
all
regulation and safety standards to criminals.]

Prohibition guarantees drug cartels, guarantees billiondollar
bureaucracies
to fight a governmentcreated "crime", guarantees gang killings, guarantees
parentless children, guarantees police corruption, guarantees an excuse for
racism by authorities, and guarantees a general cynicism and disrespect for
all laws and authority by arbitrarily making someone a criminal for doing
nothing more than making a personal decision.

No matter how many billions are spent and how many millions are jailed, the
war against drug users can never be won short of a totalitarian state. The
only answer is regulation and education. We ended prohibition once, we
must
end it again.

Carmen Yarrusso]]]