PROP. 36'S EFFECT ON DRUG STINGS

* Re "Officials Fear Effect of Drug Law on Stings," Jan. 1: I managed
the Yes on 36 campaign. Much of the bellyaching by narcotics officers
about Prop. 36 seems misplaced. The purpose of so-called "reverse
stings," where cops pose as drug dealers to arrest users, is just as
much to clean up neighborhoods as it is to put users in jail. Even if
users will now get treatment, not jail, the stings can still help in
drug-affected areas.

One prosecutor complains that cops don't measure performance "by the
number of people they send to rehab." Maybe they should adopt a new
bottom line, since the voters have now demanded it. Besides, for
many, treatment will prove to be more effective than jail time in
keeping individual users from having a reason to go anywhere seeking
illegal drugs.

Dave Fratello

Campaign for New Drug Policies

Santa Monica

There are two salient facts your article overlooked:

Most of these "sting" operations you refer to are thinly disguised
entrapments, to which the district attorneys and the judges give a
"wink and a nod." (I refer you to your own articles on the Rampart
scandal.) These criminals are created by society itself, by turning a
victimless crime into a crime and by not allowing the same freedom
accorded alcohol and tobacco, which are fully as addictive as the
proscribed drugs.

It would be a shame if the police were required to actually pursue
real criminals and build real cases, wouldn't it.

George L. Liddle Sr.

Sun City