FAILED DRUG POLICY

To The Editor:

"Colombian report raises new doubts over U.S. drug war" (Associated Press
news story, Sept. 4) was informative. We learn that the U.S. government is
spending $1.3 billion for the eradication of one of Colombia's largest cash
crops, forcing coca farmers to switch to legal crops. We learn that the
spraying of herbicide over 125,000 acres "may" have an environmental
impact. And we learn that it's arguable that the money and pollution are
doing anything to curb cocaine production.

What we do not learn is that the legalization of drugs in the U.S. would
end the environmental damage and other concerns over this failed program.
Legalization would free up $1.3 billion from this dubious program and many
more billions from interdiction, court and incarceration costs currently
being squandered by the federal government. In addition, insurgents in
Central and South American countries depend largely on drug money to
finance their campaigns. The legalization of these drugs by the world's
largest consumer (the U.S.) would legitimize these revenues, giving the
sitting governments the opportunity to use taxes to replace foreign aid,
bankrupt insurgents and start an economy that could compete in the global
market.

Larry Brittain, Guthrie