THE WAR ON DRUGS IS THE PROBLEM

Michael Braun, chief of operations for the Drug Enforcement
Administration, stated that "the al-Qaida affiliate that carried out
the Madrid train bombing funded the operation almost entirely through
the sale of illicit drugs."("Missourian Connected War on Drugs to War
on Terror," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 17)

There is no denying the fact that legal heroin and cocaine would only
cost about as much as aspirin, but -- because they are illegal -- drug
dealers net billions of dollars from consumers around the world.

It doesn't take a "Rocket Scientist" to figure out that if illicit
drug use were legalized and dealt with as the health problem that it
is, the price of illicit drugs would plummet and terrorist groups
would be denied a source of income for their murderous activities.

The "war on Drugs" is a creation of our government and, as Ronald
Regan said, "Government is not a solution to our problem, government
is the problem."

WALTER F. WOUK