TAKE A LOOK AT COST OF DRUG WAR

David Broder's Aug. 26 column was right on target. A cost-benefit
analysis of the drug war is long overdue.

Instead of wasting billions of dollars incarcerating nonviolent drug
offenders while simultaneously waging a futile supply-side war abroad,
we should be funding cost-effective treatment.

A White House proposal to expand the Clinton administration's $1.3
billion Plan Colombia into a broader Andean initiative is a prime
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.

ROBERT SHARPE, The Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation, Washington, D.C.