HELP, NOT JAIL

Matthew Hopkins' rallying cry (Speaking Up, Aug. 23) to continue the war on
drugs because drugs are simply evil is absurd. The government should have
no say in what we put into our bodies.

Thomas Jefferson said, "The legitimate powers of government should extend
only to such acts that are injurious to another person or property."
Despite this, we have hypocritically decided that alcohol and nicotine (by
far the most harmful and addictive drugs) are legal to consume but
marijuana and cocaine and other drugs are not. Drug addicts need medical
help, not jail. It is much cheaper to rehabilitate them than to incarcerate
them.

According to the government's own statistics, 65 million Americans use
illegal drugs while only 2 million are classified as having drug problems.
So 63 million use drugs casually without lying, cheating, stealing or
ripping families apart as Hopkins claims. The drug war wastes billions of
dollars, punishes those who use drugs for pleasure and harm no one and
fails to get those with addictions help. The real evil is ignorance.

Chris Cicchino, Kearny, NJ