POPPY DEMAND WON'T DECREASE

Your July 1 editorial on the billions we will use to fight the drug
war by hyping enforcement in Colombia was pretty good ("Columbia's
plan"). It simply missed the most vital point: As with most everything
somehow related to money, if there were no demand, there would be no
supply worth selling.

The problem with Colombia is awful, without question. The worse
problem, and the most conspicuous, is the fact that people in this
country (and probably elsewhere) will buy as much as the poppy pickers
can produce.

In the end, all the billions we have squandered in this foolish effort
will have gone for naught, because the little spent to reduce demand
has been ineffective.

Joseph J. Honick