HISTORY LESSON - WAR ON DRUGS CAN'T BE WON

St Lawrence County District Attorney Jerome Richards' letter has prompted
responses from a couple of people who have admitted to using some sort of
drugs and from an elderly lady who never has.

Perhaps he should find out what the two who used were taking, because their
minds were seeing things more clearly than he was.

As to the 74 year old lady, there is no way he can propel himself through
time to acquire her wisdom. No doubt she is aware of or remembers the
folly of prohibition. If it's illegal we want it. The price goes up
because of the risks. Innocent victims galore.

Since the beginning of time humankind has partaken of mind-altering
substances. Amazingly, with no "Rockefeller laws" to punish, they did so
freely. And the human race progressed.

Mr. Richards should make himself aware of President Nasser's resolve to rid
Egypt of its drug problems after Farouk's reign. He doubled the penalties
knowing that would end the problem within six months. Within six months the
drug trade had doubled. More risk, more profit and always someone to take
the risk.

It strains credulity to think our leaders are not aware they will never win
this war. They just don't have the political courage to say
otherwise. Recognizing now the moral disintegration of these leaders, is
it unrealistic to wonder if some of the profits might be finding their way
back to them?

For the record, I'm 67 years old, don't use, don't sell.

Those who do not learn from history---you know the rest.

Loren R. Sousie Bombay, New York

MOST AREN'T SELLING

St. Lawrence County District Attorney Jerome J Richards stated in a letter
of Feb. 28 that "Cases indicated people sent to prison were heavily
involved in illegal drug trafficking.

Their possession offense was of such a significant amount that prison was
the only alternative available to stem the tide of damage to society that
would have been caused by the distribution of the illegal drug, which they
possessed."

According to the annual "Crime in the United States" report, there were
704,812 marijuana arrests in 1999, 88 percent of which were for possession,
not sale or manufacture.

(Source FBI's division of Uniform Crime Reports, Crime in the United States
1999, published in October 2000.) Numbers appear on pages 211 and 212 of
FBI's Crime in the United States 1999.

Robert George Ogdensburg, New York