ON DRUGS WAR AND RACIAL PROFILING

Regarding "Bad news on racial profiling" (Editorial, Jan. 12):

The drug war is arguably waged in a racist manner throughout the nation.
Although only 15 percent of the nation's drug users are black, blacks
account for 37 percent of those arrested for drug violations, over 42
percent of those in federal prisons for drug violations, and almost 60
percent of those in state prisons for drug felonies.

Violent crime continues to trend downward, yet the land of the free
recently earned the dubious distinction of having the highest incarceration
rate in the world. Drug offenses account for the majority of federal
incarcerations. Support for the failed drug war would end overnight if
whites were incarcerated for drugs at the same rate as blacks.

Robert Sharpe, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12