CONNECT DRUG-WAR DOTS

Few readers may notice a connection between two disparate reports in the
Oct. 3 Chronicle -- one local and one national.

The Page One article, " Afghan opium benefits Taliban," said that the
Taliban government and Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization are funded
in part by the crimson opium poppies of Afghanistan.

In the Metropolitan story, "Slain couple were under surveillance," a couple
shot to death in their Sugar Land-area home, along with their 5-year-old
daughter, were reportedly "under surveillance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration."

These two seemingly unrelated tragedies would not have happened without our
war on drugs, our drug prohibition laws and the black market forces that
result.

Wayne Saums
Houston