Former Kerlikowske Policy Advisor Prohibition Op Ed Featured in The Los Angeles Times

Kevin A. Sabet’s opinion editorial on prohibition ran in The Los Angeles Times this week. The piece, “Prohibition's real lessons for drug policy,” debated the argument that legalization would solve America’s drug epidemic and was released in conjunction with the highly-acclaimed PBS “Prohibition” documentary.

Sabet, a former Senior Advisor for Policy to White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director R. Gil Kerlikowske, examines alcohol prohibition’s “failure” and lessons learned by prevention advocates applied effectively in today’s strategies.
 

“What lessons should we be taking from America's experiment with Prohibition to inform our drug policy? One is that when a substance is legal, powerful business interests have an incentive to encourage use by keeping prices low. Heavier use, in turn, means heavier social costs,” Sabet writes.