Lincoln had the vision to see beyond the special interests that keep drug prohibition in the books of American legislation and international treaties fostered by the US. The cost to society of drug prohibition is huge, it is about time our leadership stepped forward in search for a different policy, one perhaps settling for the lesser evil but which abandons the impossible dream: decriminalization, regulation and control of today's illicit drugs. See A SILENT NIGHTMARE: The bottom line and the challenge of illicit drugs, for a throrough analysis of the drug problem.