DANGEROUS DRUG POLICY

Regarding the May 6 article "Colombians train for drug
war":

The U.S.-backed Plan Colombia could very well spread both coca
production and civil war throughout South America. Communist guerrilla
movements do not originate in a vacuum. U.S. tax dollars would be
better spent addressing the socioeconomic causes of civil strife
rather than applying overwhelming military force to attack the
symptoms. We're not doing the Colombian people any favors 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 methamphetamine 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 learned
from America's disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition. Drug
laws fuel organized crime and violence, which is then used to justify
increased drug war spending. It's time to end this madness and start
treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health
problem it is.

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer
Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, Washington, D.C.