ON A TRAGEDY IN PERU

An editorial last week discussed the downing of an American missionary
plane by Peruvian air force pilots assigned to stop drug smuggling. Reader
response:

Phin MacDonald, Medford, Mass.

Even if drug smugglers were the only ones to be shot down in South America,
drug use would not be reduced in the United States. The same is true even
if we could stop every plane, boat, or truck that was carrying drugs, or
destroy every bush and shrub in the Andes region.

Marijuana is grown domestically in every state. Methamphetamine is made in
kitchens and motel rooms throughout the country. Ecstasy is made mostly in
labs in the Netherlands but could be made here. Synthetic opiates can be
made in a lab as well.

If a Berlin Wall was built along the Mexican border, or all smugglers were
shot before entering the country, or every intoxicating plant overseas was
destroyed, what difference would it make? The demand for drugs here would
result in an increased production of synthetic drugs domestically.

How much money, violence, and reduction of constitutional rights will be
sufficient to stop people from voluntarily ingesting substances they wish
to use?