ACLU Won't Sell Out

Your July 21 editorial sees "an odd coincidence" in two recent ACLU
announcements of a $7 million grant from an Ohio businessman and the
results of an ACLU-commissioned poll showing declining public support for
incarceration as an effective tool in the war on drugs.

According to your conspiracy theory (which incorrectly states that the
releases were issued on the same day), the donor's support of our
organization's work to reform the nation's failed war on drugs, combined
with his financial backing of medical marijuana initiatives in California
and elsewhere, is somehow driving the ACLU's policies and priorities. You
arrived at this groundless conclusion without ever bothering to contact us.

In fact, the ACLU has opposed the outright criminalization of drugs since
1968. I don't know what our donor was doing back then, but I'm pretty sure
he wasn't lurking behind the scenes trying to influence ACLU policy with
promises of big money 33 years down the line.

Even so, he wouldn't have succeeded: The ACLU has never compromised its
principles for money, and, in fact, has endured the loss of contributions
because of its commitment to the principles of fairness and equality
enshrined in our Constitution.

As ACLU President Nadine Strossen observed, a majority of Americans have
come to realize that "we cannot incarcerate our way out of the drug
problem." No less a radical than former Drug Czar Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey
has said virtually the same thing. Not surprising that our donors and
members would agree.

Of greater concern is your view that U.S. attorneys should be actively
prosecuting cancer patients who use medical marijuana. Should our
government pursue such a unjust course (U.S. attorneys in Oregon and
Washington have said that they will not), the ACLU will be there to oppose
it, press releases and all.

EMILY WHITFIELD

New York, N.Y.

The writer is media relations director for the American Civil Liberties Union.