DOOMED EFFORT AGAINST POT

What you failed to point out in the article "Pot farmers growing
bolder' (Metro section, Sept. 24) is that the state's entire Campaign
Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) operation to find and destroy
cannabis plants is a monumental waste of time, money and resources.

CAMP backers may gloat about the increase in destruction of pot
plants, but the obvious fact is that they are finding more plants
because there are more plants. On their very best days, drug
interdiction efforts never stop more than 10 percent of the drug trade.

In the name of the "war on drugs," we have wasted hundreds of billions
of dollars, incarcerated more of our citizens than any other country
in the world, implemented mandatory minimum sentences and rendered 1.5
million members of minorities convicted felons ineligible to vote.

When will we wake up and realize that prohibition has never worked
once in the entire history of man? It only creates a criminal black
market which leads to increased use and skyrocketing related crime.

Drug use and related harm are relatively minor in the face of the
tremendous damage this foolish drug war has caused our society.

Mark Greer, Executive director- DrugSense (MAP Inc.), Porterville