A MISGUIDED DRUG WAR

To the Editor:

Re "U.S. Weighs Expanding Aid Plan to Colombia's Neighbors" (News
article, Dec. 4): Plan Colombia, the United States' large-scale
military escalation in Colombia, is already in trouble. Europe has not
provided the resources we had hoped, and Latin American countries
oppose the escalation of the drug war.

The plan's short history is consistent with efforts to interdict and
eradicate drugs by every president since Richard M. Nixon. The results
have not been promising. Since 1980, the price of cocaine and heroin
has dropped and their purity has increased. There is more death and
disease from drug use in the United States, and adolescent use of the
most dangerous drugs is increasing. Rather than building on failure,
it's time to face reality: more of the same will not work.

Kevin B. Zeese,
President,
Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Washington