WE'RE WINNING THE DRUG WAR - IF WE SAY SO

Surely Barry McCaffrey doesn't believe his own rhetoric in "Fighting
the drug problem" (June 11). Only blind faith, ignorance or far darker
reasons would allow such an abysmal failure as the drug war to continue.

The "signature program" that he so openly refers to was a blatant
attempt by McCaffrey and his staff to secretly manipulate the media.

Each week his staff writes opinion pieces for the world's newspapers,
to which McCaffrey signs his name. Somehow, in their minds anyway,
this lends credibility to their blather. His office hustles their work
to the editorial staffs of the Hong Kong Standard, the Duluth News
Tribune, the Arizona Daily Star, and yes, the Vallejo Times-Herald, to
name but a few, and then the advertisement/editorials are printed on
opinion pages around the world. Each one seems to be written to fit
the current mood of the paper's editorial staff.

Had your current stance been more "drug war friendly," you would have
received the "tough on drugs" version. In it, you would have read of
the billions of taxpayers' dollars and thousands of American soldiers
McCaffrey must have to continue the Colombian drug war, deep in the
heart of the mountainous jungles of the Andes, where FARC,
narco-terrorists, drug lords, and those pesky drug cartels abound. If
the world's citizens will only infuse literally billions of taxpayers'
dollars, posthaste, into this decades old civil war, we might yet
destroy Colombia to save her.

If only the Times-Herald would have been a little more "drug war
friendly" we could have read about the "meth epidemic" currently
sweeping our land. You might have read how your state has placed in
the "Top 3" in the "meth epidemic" lottery. Although the "Top 3"
already includes at least 10 states, you would vie for the prize;
after all, it's only smoke, mirrors and drug war propaganda. Who
cares, right? If your state would have been lucky enough to find a
place in the "Top 3," your elected officials and anti-drug acronyms
would be encouraged to apply for the millions of taxpayers' dollars,
distributed as grants. Rewards for the faithful.

These awards could then be used, by the lucky recipients, to rid your
streets of those "meth-crazed" addicts you see everywhere. You could
use your prize to prevent those "meth lab" explosions and resulting
firestorms that occur in your community almost daily. Never mind that
no one, outside of the "drug war" establishment, has ever actually
witnessed such a thing, you could use those millions to fight this
illusion. You could cut them if they stand and shoot them if they run,
you could kill them with your bibles, your razors and your guns, a la
Steppenwolf, and if that didn't work, there's always millions more in
the treasury to fight this apocalyptic fantasy.

But, we will win. That's the magic of America's current drug policy.
Since the drug war establishment has never achieved a single victory
while fighting the old standbys, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana,
they're now creating mirages, such as the "meth epidemic," and since
only one side keeps score in this war of apparitions, they will be
victorious. It's inevitable.

But, you can bet on this, when they've ridden this nag called the
"meth epidemic" to the ground, another drug scourge will rise to take
its rightful place and it appears that ecstasy's star is on the rise.

It's all smoke and mirrors and the nation's media has repeatedly been
duped by the drug war establishment. Another typical day in the "drug
war" where only blind faith will see us through. Proceeding with our
eyes wide shut - a very bad, bad thing.

Mike Plylar

Kremmling, Colo.