Let’s end the 1915 drug prohibition

George Nethercutt (Guest Opinion, “The right way to battle opioid abuse in Washington state,” June 10) is not the only American who does not know that America left the world behind in 1915 and entered into drug prohibition, while everyone else stayed with legal and regulated drugs.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that the rest of the world imported America’s drug prohibition. For 60 years — from 1915 until the 1970s — America’s drug laws were the opposite of everyone else’s, so of course they had different effects in society. America had a big drug problem. Europe didn’t have a noticeable problem. Americans visiting Europe wrote home, saying that they had found the solution to America’s drug problem; repeal drug prohibition.

That’s just history. Economics explains it. Prohibition’s black market, with its unregulated, free market capitalism, powered by monopoly pricing, has been successful at always expanding its customer base; and economics explains why black market drug customers tend to commit acquisitive crimes.

When Mr. Nethercutt has learned American history, and come to understand the related economics, he will see that the best way to shut down the cartels and criminal enterprises which are pushing drugs, is to return the drugs to the drug store; and price them below the black market’s cost of doing business.

Today, in his innocence, he recommends that we continue to enforce drug prohibition vigorously. Is he unmindful that we have been doing that since 1915? 106 years! Is anyone happy with the results? End the bloody prohibition.

Wiley Hollingsworth

Pullman