JUST HOW EFFECTIVE IS CITY'S WAR ON DRUGS?

A recent story based on an interview with an admitted drug addict arrested
in a local raid was disturbing, but sadly, not surprising.

In a July 29 story in the Evansville Courier & Press, the 42-year-old man
said he came here from Indianapolis for drug treatment. But he said, after
completing the program, that he relapsed within days. He said he had tried
treatment programs before, and was once successful in staying clean for
three years.

As for Evansville - and other cities, we presume - he said when he decided
to use, it did not take him long to find a supplier here for his cocaine
addiction.

He said any addict knows how to look for signs of drug dealers. One way, he
said, is to look for a high concentration of pawn shops and people walking
around on the streets.

He was one of 20 people arrested in a raid of two homes in late July in the
Culver neighborhood. Afterward, Culver neighbors thanked the Evansville
Police Department for the raids.

These news reports serve as a prompt for questions about the war on drugs.

Is treatment of addictions an effective weapon in that war? Is the
vigilance by local police an effective weapon? Are federal drug programs
which attempt to stop supplies any good? And how about the effectiveness of
mandatory minimum sentences for people arrested convicted of drug charges?

Would it be better if drug use were decriminalized?

What is your opinion of the war on drugs, and how best do you believe it
should be fought?

Tell us what you think. You will have the best opportunity of having your
letter selected for publication if you keep it at 250 words or less.

Send your letter to us by Tuesday; we will publish those selected on Aug. 27.

Sign your letter, and include a daytime phone number.

Send it by mail to Letters, the Evansville Courier & Press, P.O. Box 268,
Evansville, Ind. 47702.

Send it by e-mail to letters@evansville.net or by fax to 422-8196