DRUG WAR DISTORTS OUR PERSPECTIVE

Oscar Garner's July 30 letter was a perfect illustration of how the
war on drugs has distorted our perspective, and why it is such a
threat to our freedoms.

He cites the sentences given to opium dealers and users in
pre-revolutionary China as a model for our legal system.

The same sort of sentences are handed out to political dissidents as
well as drug users in communist China today - one of the most
repressive countries on the planet and hardly one most of us would
want to emulate.

Mr. Garner proposes the death penalty for drug dealers and users
without ever stating - or questioning - why they would deserve the
death penalty.

The only crime many drug addicts have committed is being
addicted.

Who would be next? Incurable alcoholics and unrepentant cigarette
smokers?

Perhaps Mr. Garner should consider moving to China, or some other
country where the legal system is less troubled by such inconveniences
as reasonableness and compassion.

ALAN MASON
Aguanga, Calif.