An article in last Friday's New York Post illustrates the corrosive impact of prohibition on the quality of life in our nation's poor inner-city neighborhoods. The article Slaying at Harlem "Drug" Apartment described the killing of a marijuana dealer by robbers targeting his presumed cash and stash, and the critical and possibly fatal wounding of his girlfriend and her 17-year old son.

Whether or not one regrets the loss of a marijuana dealer's life in a robbery targeting his cash or supply, Henry King did not deserve to be killed and his girlfriend and her son did not deserve to suffer life-threatening wounds. But most clearly, their neighbors don't deserve to have to live in an environment characterized by violence. Nor should they have had to deal with the constant stream of visitors his business brought in and out of the building every day -- that also affects the quality of life.

Decades of the "war on drugs" have shown that the drug trade cannot be extinguished in that way. This means that blaming the dealers, deservedly or otherwise, accomplishes nothing. Only some form of drug legalization can put those kinds of dealers out of business, stop the violence and disorder, and give inner city neighborhoods a chance to finally heal and prosper.

I've submitted a letter to the editor -- and you can too. Click here to do so online.

- Dave Borden, DRCNet