'MCCAFFREYISM' PART OF PROBLEM

The Jan. 13th editorial on drug czar Barry McCaffrey's record
("After Gen. McCaffrey") was on target.

The abuse of drugs, legal or otherwise, is a public health problem.

The misguided drug war only compounds the problem.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
injection drug use has accounted for 58 percent of all AIDS cases
among women in the United States. This crisis results from
zero-tolerance policies that restrict access to clean syringes.
McCaffreyism has proven far more dangerous to America than drugs.

Marijuana plants don't undermine the Constitution, militarize
civilian police forces or finance civil war abroad.

Under Mr. McCaffrey's watch, the drug war has given rise to a
prison-industrial complex that rivals the military-industrial complex
of the Cold War in terms of influencing public policy.

It is time for policy-makers in Congress to ignore the clamor for
zero-tolerance policies and acknowledge the parallels between the
drug war and America's disastrous experiment with Prohibition. Drug
laws fuel organized crime and violence, while failing miserably at
preventing use. Children are especially vulnerable. With no controls
for age, the thriving black market is very much youth oriented.

The drug war is part of the problem, not the solution.

ROBERT SHARPE, program officer The Lindesmith Center/Drug Policy
Foundation Washington