DRUG WAR DISSENT

It is strange that anyone would honor a person whose major claim to fame is Reefer Madness-style propaganda so ridiculous that no one, especially kids, takes it seriously ("CEO of the Drug War," editorial page, Aug. 9).

The stories used to demonize drugs by those like Mr. Burke lack foundation because no one was robbing, whoring and murdering over drugs when addicts could buy all of the heroin, cocaine, morphine, opium or anything else they wanted cheaply and legally at the corner pharmacy. When drugs were legal addicts held regular employment, raised decent families and were indistinguishable from their tea-totaling neighbors. Overdoses were virtually unknown.

In the age of drug prohibition, where drug crime was unheard of we now have prisons overflowing with drug users. Where addicts lived normal lives, we have hundreds of thousands of shattered families. Where overdoses were extremely rare we have tens of thousands of drug deaths every year due to less pure and more potent concoctions being sold on the street.

These are the consequences of an insane campaign of lies that causes far more trouble than illicit drugs by themselves ever could. No one should be winning awards for ads based on unscientific notions, like the infamous "This is your brain on drugs" spot that showed the brain scan of a coma patient and claimed it was a marijuana smoker. And let us not forget the "fried egg" ad comparing an egg sizzling in a skillet to the effects of drugs on the brain -- a bit of pure hyperbole that has become a source of disdainful amusement among teenagers.

Needless to say, the absurd fictions about drugs pawned off on young people do have an effect -- before long kids don't believe a word the drug warriors say about drugs. Maybe that's why teenagers are the fastest growing group of heroin addicts these days.

Redford Givens, San Francisco, Calif.

You left many things out of your editorial on Mr. Burke and the drug war. Most importantly, you neglect to mention the fact that the financially and politically influential alcohol lobby has successfully opposed the inclusion of alcohol in the government's anti-drug ad campaign, and in doing so has perpetuated the ignorance that kills our children.

I would add that the anti-drug ad campaign begins to look extremely wrongheaded when one realizes that this expensive ad campaign ignores alcohol (which kills more people than all illegal substances combined), while concentrating on cannabis. Cannabis has no lethal dose and its pharmacological effects have not caused a single death in over 5,000 years.

Maybe the politicians are required to adhere to the party line of prohibition because they can't live without the invisible profits the drug war affords them. But unfortunately, the drug war also promotes, justifies and perpetuates racist enforcement policies and is diminishing many freedoms and liberties that are supposed to be inalienable according to the founding documents of our nation.

Myron Von Hollingsworth, Fort Worth, Texas

It's interesting that Mr. Burke is keeping the war on drugs alive. It's been a long, 30-year war that has spent billions without any results and can't be won.

That's right, it can't be won, prohibition in the 1920s failed and this prohibition is failing too. Mr. Burke, like any good businessman, sees drug dealing done not by a drug company as competition. If somebody is prohibited from growing a plant for pennies then he and others can charge $10 a pill and make billions. He's only doing what's right for the company; fighting the drug war is a very good business move.

When will policy makers in this country realize that we can't force people not to put things in their body? It's impossible to police that.

Michael K. Gailband, Staten Island, N.Y.