Published LTE: WAR AGAINST DRUGS IS A LOSING BATTLE

Albany Herald (GA): November 27, 2009

As a retired police detective, I know how futile all the efforts of the ADDU are and I pray they never get hurt. My colleague Bill Berry and all officers know that every drug dealer arrested is quickly replaced. Despite 40 years of drug war, drugs are cheaper, stronger and easier to buy. When I was a student at Dougherty High School in 1969, marijuana was very hard to find. Now, anyone in Albany can easily buy heroin, coke and all illegal drugs with one or two phone calls. I would dispute Berry’s claim about the unit being self-funded. His unit does not seize enough money to pay for the prison time of those he arrests. That heavy burden is borne by the taxpayers of Georgia. 

Will we ever become as wise as our grandparents and end this modern prohibition?

Howard Woolridge

EDITOR’S NOTE: Howard Wooldridge is a retired police officer from Michigan and a 1969 graduate of Dougherty High School who is a drug policy specialist with Citizens Opposing Prohibition in Buckeystown, Md.