A DRUG BUST GONE BAD

Annette Green is the third person to be killed by law-enforcement officers
in the last year in St. Louis during a drug bust gone bad. Multiply that by
a whole country. Then add all the injuries, the children who witness such
things and the wrong address raids. And don't forget the cops who have been
casualties. Now multiply all that by the number of years we've been
breaking down doors in the name of a drug-free America.

We've spent untold billions of dollars, interfered with foreign countries,
allowed "drug exemptions" to the Constitution and filled our jails. Lots of
people have died. Yet drugs of every kind are available on any street
corner in every city in America and supplies are more plentiful than ever.

Waging war on drugs, or on drug users, is the least effective way to reduce
use and abuse, and the most costly to the individual and to society.

It's time to end the war on drug users and treat drug use and abuse as a
medical problem.

Jim Tarrant,
St. Louis