Student Letters

DEA'S TARGETS MISPLACED

Re: "Paying price of terrorism ­ DEA Museum's traveling exhibit makes case
that American addictions fund extremists," Tuesday news story.

It's a twist of irony that the Drug Enforcement Administration is pushing
its Target America exhibit tour in Dallas to show us that the "war on
drugs" plays an important role in fighting the "war on terrorism." During
the months following the Sept. 11 tragedy, while the nation's mind was on
how to deal with future threats (rather than on the failed drug war), the
DEA implemented its own all-out "war on terrorism" throughout California
and the "terrorist supporters" targeted by the DEA turned out to be people
suffering from terminal illnesses such as AIDS and cancer and the clinics
and growers licensed by the state to distribute the cannabis to these
patients. Moreover, polls have continually shown about 80 percent of the
Americans are in favor of medical marijuana.

Will the sick and dying continue being future targets of the DEA's "war on
drugs" now being painted as a "war on terrorism"?

Craig Johnson, Carrollton, president, Students for Sensible Drug Policy,
University of Texas at Dallas