FAST FORWARD - AND THE ENDLESS WAR CONTINUES

Fast forward to the year 2005 and you will find the United States is deeply
and tragically embroiled in an unwinnable war in Colombia that cannot stop
the demand in the United States for illegal drugs.

Drug trafficking in this country continues to escalate. Prison overcrowding
is out of control, and the majority of prisoners are drug law offenders.
Money better spent on social and educational issues is squandered abroad,
and many young people continue to graduate from high school lacking basic
skills and capabilities they need to lead productive lives - if their lives
are not cut short fighting a war in their own neighborhoods.

A military response to the drug problem is doomed to failure. Thinking
people must lobby the US government to employ diplomatic and economic
measures vis-a-vis Colombia and to consider legalization of certain drugs
in order to decrease the violence and profits inherent in the drug trade.

NANCY GOLDSTEIN
Medfield