CONFLICT OF INTEREST

I was amused by the contention raised in the Jan. 2 article about the
effort to ease Michigan drug laws, which stated that the drug-policy
initiatives run by the Soros Foundation are "better funded than just
about anything." It was amusing because, a few paragraphs later, we
learn that the federal government is spending millions of dollars
fighting these initiatives. Most interesting of all is how
overwhelmingly these drug-policy initiatives are approved by voters.

We all have drug users in our families and circle of friends. We are
tired of our failed "lock-'em-all-up" policies that are great at
filling prisons with warm bodies but have only made drugs cheaper,
purer and more readily available than ever as supply rises to meet
demand.

The idea that our federal government would use millions of our tax
dollars to try to influence the way we vote seems to me to be a
conflict of interest of the greatest magnitude.

Kevin M. Hebert

Chicopee, Mass.