MARTIN Kavanagh (Letters, May 19) takes us up to the plate, but
there's no pitch. Which faithful reader of a newspaper thinks the drug
war is anything but a waste of money? But what are the
alternatives?

Counseling is not going to stop addiction for many. Putting the war
under the auspices of a Department of Health and Human Services and
calling addiction a health problem might be a start, but it's only a
start. Selective legalization might defuse part of the problem, but
certainly won't do anything for hard-core addictions. The only thing
that's going to stop the ``pharmacological McCarthyism'' is when
enough people realize the real cost of the drug war is destruction of
our families, neighborhoods, workplaces and schools.

Your newspaper could open the debate with a series of articles on
alternatives to the drug war. It's time.

J. M. Berry,
Campbell