ROBERT Sharpe (Letters, September 13) is correct when he states it is prohibition that has created the worldwide failure to stop the use of illegal drugs.

IN response to Ryle Dwyer’s column headlined ‘El Chapo – the Mexican drugs czar whose influence we should all fear’ (September 4), it should be noted that drugs did not spawn Mexico’s organised crime networks.

REGARDING Pat Leahy’s thoughtful letter (‘Only criminals gain from drugs ban,’ Irish Examiner, February 13), the drug war is in large part a war on cannabis, by far the most popular illicit drug.