AN EXPENSIVE HABIT

I appreciate The Register-Guard's recent coverage of the many facets of
local drug use. The media town hall meeting on heroin addiction held
recently at the KEZI studios was a great success and needs to happen again.
From heroin to toddlers on Prozac, The Register-Guard has taken great
strides to increase coverage of what drugs are truly costing us.

With the proposed $1.6 billion anti-drug aid package to Colombia, we ignore
history and the will of the Colombian people. How does the shipment of 30
Blackhawk helicopters and 18 more UH-1 Huey helicopters further the wishes
of the 5 million to 10 million people who took to the streets in Colombia
last year, marching for peace?

The issue of Colombian intervention by U.S. troops is a compelling
nightmare. Do we think the troops will meet no resistance? And do we think
American bodies won't come home in bags again? It is not a question of
whether Colombia will become the next Vietnam. The issue is whether the
United States will continue to ignore treatment as an alternative to
incarceration for addicts. Will we continue to incarcerate proponents of
medical marijuana, jailing quadriplegics and cancer patients? Will our
habits kill our sense and compassion?

How many innocents like Mario Paz, Ismael Mena, Donald Scott and many, many
more will die, victims of police and judicial errors? The War on (some)
Drugs has led to testing our children's urine rather than testing their
knowledge of the Bill of Rights or the Constitution. From the hallways of
our preschools to the forests, mountains and villages of Colombia,
America's thirst for drugs (legal and illegal) is an expensive habit. It is
a habit we (and the freedoms our ancestors fought for) cannot afford much
longer.

Allan Erickson