Paul Nixon wrote in a message to Terry Smith:
 PN>  Well, so far in all of recorded history, prohibition has been a 
 PN> failure.  But heck, maybe this time...
You forgot to add a  or a ;-) there, didn't you?  Or, were
you referring to gun prohibition?  Either way, I think you'll
appreciate the following:
"Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts
to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes crimes out
of things that are not crimes.  A prohibition law strikes a blow
at the very principles upon which our government was founded."
                                        -- Abraham Lincoln
----
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered
considerably by the Prohibition law.  For nothing is more
destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land
than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret
that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely
connected with this."
                          -- Albert Einstein
                         "My First Impression of the U.S.A."
                         interview, 1921, reprinted in
                         "Ideas and Opinions" (Bonanza Books)
----
"Legalization would destroy dealers' profits and remove their
incentive to get young people addicted.  Such a proposal is
unpopular ... . Sometimes at a ... cocktail party I advance these
views and people head for somebody else.  Everybody is scared to
talk about it.  No politician wants to say what I just said, not
for a minute."
                                  -- George Schultz
                                  former U.S. Secretary of State
----
When Prohibition was enacted in 1920, Billy Sunday, the noted
evangelist and leading crusader against Demon Rum, greeted it as
follows: "The reign of tears is over.  The slums will soon be
only a memory. ... Men will walk upright now, women will smile,
and children will laugh.  Hell will be forever for rent."
We know now how tragically wrong he was.  New prisons and jails
had to he built to house the criminals spawned by converting the
drinking of spirits into a crime against the state.  Prohibition
undermined respect for the law, corrupted the minions of the law,
and created a decadent moral climate -- and in the end did not
stop the consumption of alcohol.
          from "TYRANNY OF THE STATUS QUO"
          by MILTON FRIEDMAN, Nobel laureate in economics.
          Reprinted, Police News, June 1994
----
"As for drug proscription, I don't think it's possible except by   
inaugurating a society in which we wouldn't want to live.  Legalize 
drugs for those over 21, and execute anyone convicted of selling drugs
to a minor.  That will leave us with about $25 billion per year to spend
on therapy and education and will reduce the crime rate overnight by
more than 50 per cent". 
- William F. Buckley, "National Review" magazine, Dec. 28, 1992, p 55   
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