HARMFUL DRUG LAWS

Thanks for running David Broder's Aug. 27 column "For DEA's leader, food for
thought in crammed prisons." The people of our fine state need to know just
how full our federal and state prisons are with nonviolent drug offenders.

We could better use the money this costs us for drug rehabilitation and
getting these people back to productive lives and back with their families.

It is very evident to most people that our current policy hasn't changed the
availability of drugs to those who want them, and locking them all up is
most ridiculous. My family is one of the many families affected by our
current policy and we hope that it will be changed soon and that our son
will not have to stay in federal prison until 2014 as his release date
states.

ALICE FISHER, Canton