WAR ON DRUGS CAUSES INJUSTICE TO FREEDOM-LOVING AMERICANS

MIAMI, Fla. - I was appalled by Editorial Page Editor John Kanelis' July 16
column. It is because of people like him that the terrible injustices that
have plagued this country since the start of the war on drugs continue.

According to the 1998 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Statistics Source
Book, 15 times as many people die from diet/activity patterns than from
illegal drug use. Are we going to arrest anyone caught eating a bacon double
cheeseburger?

At one point Kanelis stated, "Does easier access to legal drugs, such as
heroin and cocaine, create more drug addicts? How can it not produce such an
outcome?" Then he contradicted himself by saying, "The government is
arresting plenty of drug dealers - and users - only to find plenty more
where they came from."

Obviously, people who want to do drugs do them whether they are legal or
not. Legalizing them is not going to greatly change the number of users.

Kanelis stated, "It didn't take a public service announcement to convince me
that doing drugs is a profoundly bad lifestyle choice." He made a choice,
just as every person does, whether or not to do drugs.

Legality of drugs has little impact on whether someone will or will not use
them because, obviously, the supply is there for the taking. Legalizing
drugs would take them off of our street corners and put them into a pharmacy
where they belong.

Legalization would remove the black market crime associated with drugs. It
would apply control to an environment where currently there is no control.
Zero tolerance equals zero control!

In his column, Kanelis quoted Texas Tech University psychologist Ron Owens,
who said that if drugs were legalized, companies would begin "research into
determining how to make the drugs that give the user the best buzz for the
buck." That is simply an opinion based on nothing. Legislation to legalize
drugs has not even been written!

With legalization, we could place restraints on development policies. We
could limit the amounts given to users. We could make the users have to
enter into a treatment program in order to get their legal drug amount.

Kanelis asked, "Who among us would condone letting people sleep literally in
the street, or in our public parks?" I don't know if he has noticed, but
people do that now, and nobody seems concerned!

Kanelis then asked, "Or who would allow the run-of-the-mill addict to
stumble aimlessly along our streets, panhandling passers-by for a little
drug money so they can purchase their next fix at some community clinic?"

Recently I was sitting at a stoplight watching a poor, dirty black man
walking between the cars with his hand out. It is obvious we already have
the problem that Kanelis predicts would come with the legalization of drugs.

Kanelis stated, "The cost is there. And it is huge. It would cost us all to
pay for publicly supported drug counseling and rehabilitation."

How much does he think it costs to lock drug users up? It costs anywhere
from $25,000 to $50,000 a year to jail a drug user, not including the cost
of prosecuting him. If we take the lower figure and multiply it by the
average mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, that equals $250,000 U.S.
tax dollars per year per inmate!

Of the more than 2 million people behind bars in this country, 1.2 million
are there for drug-related crimes. That 1.2 million times $250,000 equals $3
billion!

Even the Rand Corporation (the same corporation that provided the statistics
that brought about mandatory minimums) has stated, "Added drug treatment is
15 times more effective than law enforcement at reducing the societal costs
of cocaine use."

Near the end of his column, Kanelis wrote, "It is time for the
drug-legalization crowd to stop implying that such an endeavor is
cost-free."

It is time for people who oppose drug legalization to consult the facts
before they use their power in the media!

Charles Reeves lives in Miami, Fla.