Prohibition is a sickening horror and the ocean of human wreckage it has left in its wake is almost endless (HCN, 3/1/10). Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior that has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most normal-thinking people in the direction of sensible regulation. By its very nature, prohibition cannot fail to create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model –– the international drug trade. All decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous, ruthless drug dealers, who are interested only in the huge profits involved. The "War on Drugs" is a de facto "war on people." (Some might even successfully argue that it's a de facto race war.)

Malcolm Kyle

(submitted online as a comment)