DRUG TRAFFIC: DEMAND, NOT SUPPLY

Re: "Sticking With Colombia" [editorial, Feb. 13]:

The Post is correct that the United States should stick with Colombia.
However, the current plan of aerial spraying and military intervention will
be ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst. In contrast, six of
Colombia's governors have developed a plan to promote land ownership, to
help Colombian farmers develop new markets for traditional products (such
as bananas and coffee) and to generally regain control of Colombia through
other benign reforms.

Decades of scientific evidence have shown that source-country eradication
efforts have no significant effect on drug use in the United States. Basic
economics dictates that supply will always exist to meet demand. A major
study conducted for the Office of National Drug Control Policy by the RAND
Corporation found that drug treatment is 23 times more effective than
eradication in reducing the use of cocaine in the United States. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently told a Senate committee that our country
would be better off spending resources on reducing demand at home than on
supply-side schemes abroad.

President Bush should heed the advice of his defense secretary and think
twice before following in Clinton's footsteps into the Colombia quagmire.

Bill Piper, Washington