RIGHT ON TARGET

Your Sept. 8 editorial ("Spraying poison") was right on target.

A cost-benefit analysis of U.S. drug war efforts overseas is long overdue.
The environmental damage caused by Plan Colombia is especially heinous.
Toxic herbicides are sprayed indiscriminately from above, hitting water
supplies, staple crops and people. The aerial eradication campaign drives
peasants farther into the Amazon basin, which in turn leads to more
rainforest destruction.

A White House proposal to expand the Clinton administration's $1.3 billion
Plan Colombia into a broader Andean initiative is a prime of example of big
government throwing good money after bad.

The additional funds will not negate the immutable laws of supply and
demand that drive illegal drug production. A crackdown in one region leads
to increased cultivation elsewhere.

Creating a global welfare state in which every developing country is paid
not to grow illicit crops is a rather expensive proposition. Instead of
wasting tax dollars overseas on futile supply-side efforts, we should be
funding cost-effective drug treatment here at home.

ROBERT SHARPE

Program Officer, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation

Washington, D.C.