NEED STRAIGHT TALK ON 'DRUG WAR'

The Oct. 7 Register front-page story "Bush: Anti-Drug Efforts Lag," states,
in part, that presidential candidate George W. Bush wants to create a
program called Parents Drug Corp. He believes the Clinton administration
has been doing a terrible job on the war on drugs.

Isn't this just more government, more bureaucracy, more red tape? And
hasn't he been telling the voters for the past several months that he wants
to be president so he can give us a less intrusive government? Or is that
just campaign rhetoric?

Ray Dominck
3702 54th St., Des Moines.

A LITTLE HONESTY MIGHT ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING

George W. Bush blames the Clinton administration for failed drug policies
and says more drug agents and a Parents Drug Corps will cure the problem.
The drug war certainly is a failure, but not for the reasons Bush thinks it is.

Bush has repeatedly refused to talk about his past drug use, asking people
to judge him on his accomplishments rather than his failures. That's nice
for Bush, but what about everyone else? A lot of people have used drugs
while at the same time accomplishing great things.

Bush would have these people treated like criminals while asking us to
forgive him for his past indiscretions. The truth is, if Bush had been
caught and arrested for using drugs he would not be running for president
of the United States today.

I really doubt that Bush is going to do any better than the Clinton
administration has done. A little honesty might accomplish something, but
more of the same rhetoric we've been subjected to for the past 30 years
isn' t going to get us anywhere we haven't already been.

Carl E. Olsen
130 E. Aurora Ave., Des Moines.