SCIENCE, NOT SENTENCING

The announcement that the U.S. Sentencing Commission has toughened
penalties for selling the drug Ecstasy [news story, March 21] demonstrates
that policy makers refuse to let science block their plans to imprison
illicit drug users.

When it comes to increasing prison sentences, policy makers ignore
scientific evidence of a drug's harm (or lack thereof). The article noted
that a leading group of scientists said that "there was 'no justification'
in terms of policy or pharmacology for an increase in punishment."

Drug use is a health problem. It's time to demand a science-based drug
strategy.

Steven Kronenberg, Philadelphia