Dear editor,

If the report of the Drug Policy Advisory Group is any indication,
Gov. Johnson appears to be on the verge of submitting a comprehensive
legislative proposal on drugs. Such a proposal would reduce - but not
eliminate - criminal penalties for drug possession and make treatment
rather than imprisonment the cornerstone of drug policy.

Let's hope so. Because it's time to do some serious thinking about
reality vs. drug war propaganda and knee-jerk "incarcerationism." In
short, it's time for a new approach.

The present approach hasn't stopped people from using drugs. And
there is no reason to believe that it should. Think about it: If
nicotine users were put in prison, would smokers stop or just go
underground?

Current drug policy is nothing more than a revolving door into and
out of prison. People who are dependent on drugs do not stop using
drugs because of the threat of prison. Once they are in prison, they
do not stop using. When they come out of prison, they continue to
use. And then? Of course, they go back to prison.

OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, WHEN CITIZENS WHO ARE DEPENDENT ON
DRUGS go to prison, the only result is felons dependent on drugs. Yet
we keep on doing it, over and over and over again. To continuously
repeat an action that produces the same unsatis-factory result every
time and ex-pect a different result is insanity. The war on drugs is
insanity.

I don't know for sure what the answer is; no one does. But it's a
certainty that what we're doing now isn't it. It's high time we try
something else. And the governor's initiative is a start.

Alan Wagman, Silver City