A CLOSED MIND

John Ashcroft should not be confirmed despite Lee Cullum's not unreasonable
inclination to give President Bush the people he wants (Viewpoints, Dec.
29). Mr. Ashcroft's record is that of an ideologue, not an attribute for an
attorney general.

In the realm of drug policy, which will vest him with enormous power, Mr.
Ashcroft has displayed a closed mind. His repeated unwillingness to ever be
moved by science and expert opinion bodes ill.

Jack Lawn was in charge of stopping the illegal drug supply for five years
under Ronald Reagan and says that the 70 percent of drug war money that law
enforcement gets now should be slashed to 10 percent because 20 years of
failure prove it was an enormous waste.

George Shultz, Mr. Reagan's former secretary of state and now an adviser to
President-elect George W. Bush, pointed out the economic absurdity of
prohibition, which Mr. Ashcroft supports. The RAND report says treatment is
about 10 times as cost effective as prison for drug offenders, but Mr.
Ashcroft favors prisons. Henry Hyde called for an end to the attack on the
Constitution by drug laws, while Mr. Ashcroft has offered legislation to
expand the federal government's encroachment on our right to privacy, free
speech and Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure of our
property. While the American Medical Association has called the need to
give addicts access to clean needles an "urgent" public health measure to
limit the spread of AIDS and hepatitis, Mr. Ashcroft opposes it. The
Institute of Medicine experts say smoked marijuana offers the only
alternative for many suffering people, but Mr. Ashcroft also opposes that.
Nor has he protested the federal government's efforts to quash the voters'
choice in eight states to allow such medical use.

Mr. Ashcroft opposed the well-deserved nominations to high posts of Ronnie
White, David Satcher, Henry Foster and Frederica Massiah-Jackson, four
African-Americans. This brings into question how sensitive he will be in
correcting the viciously racist outcomes imposed by the drug war. Mr.
Ashcroft once said, "Two things you find in the middle of the road," are "a
moderate and a dead skunk." Mr. Bush should reconsider; this is not a
healing act.

Jerry Epstein, President, Drug Policy Forum of Texas, Houston