War on Drugs hasn’t worked, so it’s time to try something else

The War on Drugs has lasted for more than half a century, and it has not worked, leading some people to say something else - like legalizing drugs - should be tried. (AP)

I think a recent letter writer was on the right track with his suggestion that drug-related violent crime would stop if drugs were legalized, but he omitted an important principle that supports his argument.

There is drug-related crime because there is money to be made in dealing drugs. There is money in it because drugs are illegal. Make them legal, and you drain the money and the motivation for violence from the system. I would think the example of Prohibition would have taught this.