Prohibition blues
Both were profoundly counterproductive, leading to widespread flouting of the law, the vast enrichment of organised crime and countless user deaths through tainted products.
Sadly, the failed tactics of prohibition acquired moral or even spiritual overtones which resulted in them being lifted clear of the sphere of rational debate.
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Hide AdIn fact, what ended the “noble experiment” was the desperate need for tax income in the early 1930s so that the end of Prohibition was the silver lining of the Depression.
As your editorial (10 December) indicated, our real problems are “high and rising unemployment… the continuing squeeze… and another £27 billion of tax increases or spending cuts”.
Everyone knows the benighted Richard Nixon’s “war on drugs” is lost so may we hope financial realities will force the hand of our timid politicians and end this charade.
(Dr) John Cameron
Howard Place
St Andrews