DRUG WAR VICTORY: HALLUCINATION

* As a retired drug enforcement agent and a member of the Writers Guild of
America, I couldn't resist responding to "Hollywood Is Ignoring a Valid
Drug War Script" (Commentary, March 15). The reason Robert Housman and
Barry McCaffrey had a chance to make their arguments in your paper is in
part because of Hollywood and films like "Traffic." Many current and former
DEA agents eagerly embraced and worked on "Traffic." The DEA and U.S.
Customs also assisted the filmmakers. Why. Because these committed drug war
veterans know that law enforcement alone cannot solve the fundamental
problems that turn people to drugs. The agents and agencies hoped this film
could reach a wider audience and create discussion of the issue, from which
new ideas and solutions might emanate. It apparently has!

John Marcello

Manhattan Beach

* One wonders how ignorant and/or gullible Housman and McCaffrey believe
the American public to be. Putting aside the many other blatant
misrepresentations in their piece, the authors state, "Legalization [of
drugs] would only increase the number of people robbing, stealing and
prostituting themselves for drug cash." It is drug prohibition, not any
inherent costs, that drives drug prices sky-high and creates criminal
activity. Legalizing prohibited substances for adults would make them no
more expensive than a cocktail or two. When was the last time an armed
drinker held up a convenience store to pay for his next martini.

Bill Farley

Sun Valley

* Obviously, in their fervor to incarcerate their fellow Americans for
recreational drug use, Houseman and McCaffrey refuse to acknowledge the low
rates of drug-related crime in the Netherlands, the fact that the Swiss
government has made marijuana fully legal and the fact that our prisons are
overflowing with Americans who engaged in the victimless crime of getting
themselves high without causing harm to anyone but themselves (if at all).

They point to studies that show marijuana users to be prone to violent
crime, when in fact it is alcohol, a legal drug, that causes more episodes
of violence and domestic abuse. This article is just plain dishonest.
Somebody ought to tell these warriors that the vile drug war is a lost
cause, with more and more evidence to prove it so.

Christian F. Hokenson

Burbank