The Rev. Howard Brown, who saw one son murdered and another shot in the North Lawndale neighborhood, was quoted in the Sun-Times ("Lawndale's 'murder game,' "Aug. 3): "Drugs are out there and all that. As long as there's that, there will be violence and killing. It's a murder game."

He is absolutely right. As long as gangs continue their turf wars over drugs, nothing will change. The prohibition of alcohol spawned crime just as the prohibition of drugs does now. Fortunately, we had the wisdom to put an end to alcohol prohibition. Until we allow the government to regulate and tax drugs (in other words, to legalize them and take the profit away from the gangs), we should not expect an end to the "murder game."

Jeff Robertson,

Orland Hills

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Thanks for reporting the facts about industrial hemp (Society, Feb. 18). Hemp is no more a drug than hazelnuts are, yet the U.S. government doesn't seem to grasp this fact. A clean, renewable source of fuel and fiber, hemp belongs under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture, not the Drug Enforcement Administration. It's ironic that this government meddling is occurring during the Bush Administration, which touts itself as probusiness and anti-Big Government.

Jeff Robertson, Green Environmental Coalition

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