CAMPBELL, GREENS FIND AGREEMENT

REP. Tom Campbell's association with the Green Party in his effort to alter
our drug policy (Page 3B, May 16) should not come as a surprise, as both the
Democrats and Republicans are entrenched in our current war on drugs.

Any politician who proposes even the slightest form of alternate drug abuse
solutions is immediately condemned by the narco-industrial complex.
Prohibitionists are determined to imprison more and more non-violent drug
offenders while passing more and more draconian drug laws. Mr. Campbell is
only suggesting trying alternative solutions to the drug problem while his
senatorial opponent, Dianne Feinstein, continues to promote expansion of our
current failed policies while insisting it's all to save the children.

If Ms. Feinstein is so confident that prison is such a terrific solution to
drug abuse, why not propose throwing all the alcoholics in the slammer? One
has to wonder, how many more millions of drug users have to be imprisoned
before the drug warriors will consider the ``war'' won?

Tom Campbell should be commended for his bravery in speaking out on an issue
that will only bring to him severe criticism from both his own Republican
Party and the Democrats. Drug abuse policy is the one issue on which both
parties agree: more of the same. Campbell recognizes that the drug war has
turned into pharmacological McCarthyism and it's time to change course and
accept the fact that it is our drug laws, not the drugs themselves, that are
causing such havoc in our society. There are other solutions to the drug
problem and I, for one, believe Congressman Campbell is on the right track.

Martin Kavanagh, Saratoga