POLICE COURAGE WASTED ON USELESS EFFORT

Atlanta Deputy Police Chief C.B. Jackson, in his letter defending the
heroism of police raids on drug dealers, misses the point ("Drugs are
scourge, must be fought," April 13). No one denies police heroism.
But it is a foolish and wasteful heroism, exactly like that of the
U.S. troops sent to Vietnam. The whole effort is misguided.

If the illegal drugs were decriminalized and sold at cost, many would
still be ruined by them, but the element of crime would be completely
removed. No one would mug or shoot anyone over them.

The basic idea of law is to prevent people from hurting others, not
themselves. If this principle were applied to drugs, our whole
wasteful and failed war on drugs would evaporate.

PAUL SCHUMACHER, Atlanta