US DRUG WAR MAY FUEL CIVIL CONFLICT

FROM MR ROBERT SHARPE

Sir, The US-funded drug war effort known as Plan Colombia (report and
photograph, July 23) could very well spread coca production and civil
war throughout South America. Communist guerrilla movements do not
originate in a vacuum. US tax dollars would be better spent
addressing the socio-economic causes of civil strife rather than
applying overwhelming military force to attack the symptoms. The US
is not doing the Colombian people any favours by funding civil war.
Nor are Americans being protected from drugs. Destroy the Colombian
coca crop and production will boom in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.
Destroy every last plant in South America and domestic amphetamine
production will increase to meet the demand for cocaine-like drugs.
The self-professed champions of the free market in Congress are
seemingly incapable of applying basic economic principles to drug
policy.

Rather than waste resources attempting to overcome immutable laws of
supply and demand, policymakers should look to the lessons learnt
from America's disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition after
the First World War. Drug laws fuel organised crime and violence,
which is then used to justify increased drug war spending.

Itís time to end this madness.

Sincerely, ROBERT SHARPE (Program officer), The Lindesmith Center -
Drug Policy Foundation, 4455 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite B-500,
Washington, DC 20008-2328. rsharpe@drugpolicy.org July 24.