FOCUS LETTER: WAR ON DRUGS FAILS TO DETER CRIME

Robert Downey can not ingest some cocaine without the entire world
being mesmerized. Gee, I wonder how many other people ingested some
kind of mind-altering, illegal drug that night in this valley, in
California, in the U.S.?

No wonder Mr. Downey is an addict. He has to sneak and hide.

Holland, where 18-year-olds can legally purchase marijuana at the
local coffee shop, now boasts the lowest rate of teen-age marijuana
use in the world.

They also have the lowest rate of teen-age pregnancy in the world due
to sound education.

The "war on drugs" does not work, never has, never will. In addition,
academic statistics prove that 70 to 80 percent of all the crime in
this country is a direct result of this "war." Think about that,
70-80 percent! This is a sad statistic that must be deposited at the
footstep of a government that is building a modern day, hi-tech terra
firma archipelago, eventually to be run by public corporations that
will sell growth stocks for the incarceration industry.

Does it really matter who is president of this?

George J. Carson

Palm Desert