THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN PURSUING A PROHIBITION APPROACH TO DRUG CONTROL FOR 100 YEARS; IT HAS BEEN EXPENSIVE (NEW YORK STATE SPENDS APPROXIMATELY $35 MILLION ANNUALLY ON ENFORCEMENT AND ADJUDICATION OF DRUG OFFENSES) AND UNSUCCESSFUL. AN ANALYSIS OF THE AMERICAN APPROACH TO NARCOTICS CONTROL FROM 1974-1977 IS PRESENTED. THREE MYTHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF DRUG POLICY ARE DISCUSSED AND REVIEWS OF RESEARCH ARE OFFERED TO DISPROVE THE POLICY TENETS THAT (1) DRUG USE IN THE U.S. WAS WIDELY DIFFUSED IN SOCIETY UNTIL THE 1920'S; (2) THE IRRATIONALITY OF THE PRESENT POLICY CAN BE SUPERSEDED AND REFORMED BY SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS; AND (3) ADDICTION IS THE INEVITABLE OUTCOME OF PROLONGED NARCOTICS USE AND IMPELS THE USER TO IRRATIONAL BEHAVIORAL EXTREMES, INCLUDING VIOLENT CRIME. IT IS ARGUED THAT A PUNITIVE ENFORCEMENT POLICY REDUCES DRUG SUPPLIES CAUSING MARKET PRICES TO RISE AND A CORRELATIVE RISE IN CRIME OCCURS TO FINANCE DRUG PURCHASE. AT THE SAME TIME, MORE USERS BECOME DEALERS SINCE IT IS LUCRATIVE BUSINESS, AND THE RISK OF EXPERIMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH ADULTERATION OF DRUGS AND USE OF NEEDLES FOR INJECTION INCREASES. THE AUSTRALIAN DRUG ENFORCEMENT POLICY IS BASED ON THE AMERICAN PROTOTYPE, AND THOUGH DRUG USE IS NOT WIDESPREAD IN THIS COUNTRY, THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR EXPERIENCING AMERICA'S PROBLEMS IF USE INCREASES. KNOWLEDGE ABOUT NARCOTICS MUST BE IMPROVED AND IRRATIONAL, ARBITRARY POLICY SHOULD BE MODIFIED FOLLOWING INTENSIVE RESEARCH, COMMUNITY DEBATE, AND EXTENSIVE EXPERIMENTATION. REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (DAG)