EFFECTIVE DRUG POLICIES

To the Editor:

Re "An Unwinnable War on Drugs," by Ethan A. Nadelmann (Op-Ed, April 26):

Of course drug policies should reduce crime and suffering. If you
examine the data, you'll see that they have - not perfectly, but
significantly. As you have reported, criminologists cite the decline
in the crack cocaine market as a force behind the crime rate's
plummeting to 30-year lows. Surely, the fact that there are 8.5
million fewer drug users today than there were in 1985 has
contributed to this remarkable trend, preventing enormous pain and
suffering.

Some believe that the answer is "harm reduction." Isn't the better
way to reduce harm done by drugs to encourage people, especially
kids, not to use them in the first place? We can prevent drug use.
Preventing tragedies is better than accepting them.

RICHARD D. BONNETTE

President Partnership for a Drug-Free America New York, April 27, 2001