PUNISHMENT FOR DRUG USE ISN'T AN AFFECTIVE SOLUTION

I am writing this in response to the July 12 letter called "We need harsher
penalties for those who do drugs."

Mr. Wells seems to have a very close-minded opinion of drugs, and uses this
personal opinion to promote harsher laws on drug users. It's depressing to
think of all the people who are arrested every day because they decided to
smoke a joint, or drop some acid. It's not necessarily good for them, but
neither is it any of our business to tell them what to ingest.

Quite obviously, Mr. Wells thinks otherwise, and he is certainly entitled
to his opinion. But it does nothing to justify an even harsher policy
against drug users that has been consistently failing for the past 30 years.

Mr. Wells writes "There can be no situation so bad as to make someone want
to to do drugs or to drink themselves into oblivion. It just doesn't make
sense. To feel high -- that isn't a very convincing excuse. To relieve
stress -- get a massage."

It seems as if Mr. Wells suggests that every person in the U.S. who uses
any psychoactive drug should be locked up, given criminal records, and
suffer the homosexual rape that many jailed drug offenders experience. And
why? Because they choose how they want to relieve stress and escape reality.

"Who cares if there are 25 people in one jail cell?"I think you would, if
half of your family and friends were stuck in those overcrowded jail cells.
It's not humane, especially when we could be filling the jails with actual
criminals rather than locking up people who make choices they should be
naturally entitled to.

Alan Reiner

Arlington, Va.