DRUG ADDICTS NEED TREATMENT, WE NEED WINNABLE WAR

Regarding the Chronicle's Nov. 29 article, "Drug seizures at border
soar, causing alarm": Isn't it time we started using some common sense
in dealing with substance abuse? Because of the way prosecutors reduce
sentences in exchange for information, mandatory sentences for drug
offenders punish most severely those addicts and users with the least
information to trade. As a result, our prisons are filled with
low-level drug offenders. This is one of the reasons why Chief Justice
William Rehnquist recently described mandatory minimum sentences for
drug offenders as "a good example of the law of unintended
consequences."

Other unintended consequences of the war on drugs include its racially
disparate impact on people of color, its distortion of the judicial
system by transferring power from the judge to the prosecutor, the
enormous cost to taxpayers and its utter failure to deter drug use.

There are better ways to deal with America's drug problems. Numerous
studies have shown that drug treatment is far more effective at
reducing drug abuse and its consequences than harsh sentencing policies.

Politicians should recognize the truth: We need to treat substance
abuse as a medical and social problem rather than as a criminal
problem. The alternative is an unacceptable police state.

Leigh Benton, Houston