PROHIBITION NOT WORKING

Re: "Crystal meth available in every neighbourhood, police say," The NOW, Saturday, April 17.

I see that prohibition is working as well as it always has.

Nearly all the harm done to users and non-users alike by illegal drugs is because the drugs are prohibited.  Thousands were poisoned by adulterated booze during Prohibition and thousands more are dying today because of adulterated drugs, an aspect of government policy my wife and I became well acquainted with when our 19-year-old son, Peter, died shortly after ingesting some street heroin in 1993.

Drug prohibition encourages crime too, as was shown when Al Capone rose to power after alcohol was banned.

Let us never forget also that drug prohibition is racist in origin.  It began almost a century ago when the drugs used by certain non-white minorities were banned, ostensibly to protect virtuous, white, Christian women from being seduced by these minorities.

Today, the police are happy to make use of this racist legislation to control and harass those whose lifestyle or skin colour offends them.

The best way to reduce the harm and heartbreak of illegal drugs is to end drug prohibition.  Let's legalize all drugs, remove the propaganda and the police from the equation and have the drugs manufactured by knowledgeable, competent organizations that will supply cheap, quality-tested drugs of known purity and potency.

Alan Randell

Victoria