TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL CURIOUS EXEMPTIONS FROM "DRUG WAR"

Robert Bonadonna makes an excellent point in his letter "Make 'war on
drugs' a war on tobacco" [July 26]. Why does "our" government spend
billions of our tax dollars in a vain attempt to eradicate coca, opium
poppies and cannabis, while allowing two substances (tobacco and alcohol)
to continue killing vastly more U.S. citizens than all "illegal" substances
combined?

As all citizens of the United States are to be treated as equals before the
law, should not all substances be judged equally by the law?

Impartiality is the cornerstone on which respect for the law rests. All
current elected representatives, all candidates for national office and
[President Clinton's drug-policy director] Barry McCaffrey should explain
why tobacco and alcohol are exempt from classification by the Controlled
Substances Act. The CSA claims dominion over all substances in this world
except tobacco and alcohol. Why should two killer drugs be exempt from the
iron fist of the CSA, DEA, ONDCP and the rest of the alphabet soup of
government agencies that seek to control what we can put into our bodies
and the state of our consciousness?

Thinking U.S. citizens eagerly await the response of their leaders and Czar
McCaffrey.

J. Colman-Pinning, Waldport, Ore.