U.S. NEEDS MORE AGGRESSIVE STANCE AGAINST DRUGS

Jerry Rivard of Newtown seems to make a good point in his letter ["U.S. war
on drugs creates problems," Jan 21], but he overlooked one important fact
when he suggested we stop fighting the "War on Drugs." For more than 50
years, we have been trying to curb smoking through policies that "stress
prevention, education, and treatment instead of pretending that law
enforcement can solve a public health problem." This approach has proven
less successful than alcohol prohibition.

The tobacco suit settlement money Connecticut was awarded because we
claimed we needed it to combat smoking is being dispersed among too many
unrelated programs by our state General Assembly. I feel that using the
award for anything less than smoking prevention and cure constitutes
misrepresentation in a court of law. The courts should force Connecticut
to apply the money where it was intended, or bring contempt of court charges.

Illegal substance abuse has a nasty tendency to turn gentle, otherwise
caring people into egotistically belligerent, paranoid individuals who
otherwise would never consider crime. And, when someone who already has a
vicious criminal personality pursues drugs, that person can easily become a
psychopath.

It is this tendency of drugs to negatively alter personalities that demands
a strong law enforcement effort to protect innocent citizens. The courts
are much too lenient.

I think we need to attack serious addiction problems more aggressively on
both fronts. All wars are fought with a combination of diplomacy and
force. We tried diplomacy to stop smoking and had little success. Recent
anti-smoking laws are beginning to help. Caring, intelligent people
understand that their smoking is wrong, and do everything they can to quit.
However, drug users don't understand anything but greed and force. We need
to find a way to remove money from the equation. Perhaps we should raise
fines for minor offenses and seize all money and property from those
convicted of major offenses. The money could fund the education and
treatment policies that Rivard proposed.

Only a united front of powerful law enforcement and prevention programs has
a chance in the fight against drugs.