Letters

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More like the War on Dud

Dear Dig,

Cara Bayles' "Packed Prisons" (feature, 5.7.08) gave readers a very clear answer as to how and why our prison system has become so vastly overcrowded: the War on Drugs.

Our court systems are clogged with the vast influx of nonviolent drug offenses we prosecute: 1.7 million nationally each year. Building prisons has become the fastest-growing industry in America. Another booming industry? The black market drug trade. After nearly 40 years and over a trillion tax dollars spent on the War on Drugs, illegal drugs are cheaper, more potent and easier to get than ever.

The War on Drugs doesn't prevent drug use, and it doesn't prevent drug-related crime. In fact, drug prohibition causes crime by putting violent cartels in control of the drug trade. If drugs were legalized and regulated, the black market drug trade would be a nonentity and crime would drastically reduce. In the case of nonviolent users, drug addiction should be treated as a health issue rather than a legal problem.

I arrived at this conclusion after serving as a member of the New Jersey State Police for 26 years; for 12 of those years I worked in their narcotic bureau as an undercover agent.

I am now the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an educational organization of former and current law enforcement officers who know the War on Drugs is an abject failure: We are police, judges, prosecutors and corrections officers dedicated to speaking out about the atrocities of the Drug War.

JACK A. COLE

LEAP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

MEDFORD

Where am I?

Of the four establishments described in Ligaya Tichy's Yelp article about Jackson Square (5.14.08), only one is actually in Jackson Square (the Columbus Ave./Centre St. intersection). Diablo and Mississippi's are in Mission Hill, and 826 Boston is in Egleston Square. While the boundaries of these areas are imprecise, your locales weren't close to any common definitions of Jackson Square. It's good that Tichy highlighted these fine places and how nearby they are. But simply accessing something via the Jackson Square T stop doesn't mean it's automatically in Jackson Square. Mission Hill and Egleston Square certainly deserve praise as well.

JOHN

VIA EMAIL

Yelpstop author Ligaya Tichy responds:

Thanks for your feedback, John. The intent of the column is to feature cool local businesses that are accessible from a particular T stop. To avoid confusion, titles will now include the name of the stop and the subway line.

Errata: Last week's DeVotchKa article listed the opening band as Funky Trash. The band's real name is Fancy Trash. Sorry about that.