DARE TO RECONSIDEr

Before Americans consider a new direction for U.S. drug policy, we should
take a long, hard look at where we've been ("What's Your Anti-Drug?" April
16). Not another dollar spent, prison built, innocent shot, cop corrupted,
war waged, right repealed, DARE program taught or drug raider deployed,
until someone, somewhere, somehow, outside the halls of the government
created anti-drug industry, takes a long, hard, unbiased look at what, just
may be, nothing more than a hysterical witch-hunt run amok.

Have we actually accomplished one tangible thing of note, besides enriching
those who espouse and implement these draconian measures? Now that DARE has
been exposed as having produced exactly the opposite effect we desired, one
must question the achievements of the other freelance anti-drug acronyms.
What exactly does our dollar buy? Do they actually encourage, rather than
prevent, drug use?

It's time Americans revisit the whole issue and look at what we've done to
our fellow citizens and our children in the name of the war on drugs.
Shouldn't we critically review the current scheme, and, at the very least,
consider cheaper, more effective, less harmful approaches to America's drug
problem? It's never too late to reconsider.

Mike Plylar
Kremmling, Colorado