Pubdate: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Copyright: 2009 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZ Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n187/a08.html Author: Thomas P. Sullivan FAILED DRUG POLICY Congratulations to Tribune columnist Steve Chapman for exposing the futility and negative consequences of the "war on drugs" ("Reality intrudes on the drug war," Commentary, Feb. 15). Criminal penalties have proven ineffective in reducing manufacture, sales and use. Our court and prison systems have been inundated and overburdened. Many youths are serving lengthy jail terms, to no productive end. The "top brass" remains largely untouched. This is a current version of alcohol prohibition, which we assigned to the dust bin more than half a century ago. Thomas P. Sullivan, Chicago - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake