END THIS WAR

Your newspaper's call to end the failed "war on drugs" is refreshing,
especially coming from a paper in this conservative area with such
strong military influence. I applaud you!

If you listen to the government's position on the shooting down of the
missionary plane, they claim their policy has been successful in
stemming the flow of drugs. That is our government misinforming its
people - no different from when they manipulated statistics during the
Vietnam War.

If the policy were working, drugs would be less available and more
expensive. Neither is the case.

Wake up, America! Let's change our misguided policy. We can't eliminate
drugs from our most secure prisons, where total control of what is
brought into the institutions is attempted. How can we secure our
borders?

People like Strawberry and Downey Jr. have a sickness. It's not all
about will power.

Stop wasting my tax dollars on the failed war on drugs. Build schools,
hospitals, airports - just not prisons - with my money. We cannot and
will not win this failed war. Empty our prisons of all nonviolent drug
offenders today and use the space for the McVeighs, Kaczinskis and
Gottis of our society.

Mark Stemler, Navarre Beach