DRUG ADDICTS NEED TREATMENT, WE NEED WINNABLE WAR

In the Chronicle Nov. 21 article, "Professor leads the charge in battle
against drug war," Donald Hollingsworth, drug policy coordinator for Mayor
Lee Brown and Tom Arp, assistant commander of the Texas Department of Public
Safety's narcotics unit, both agree that marijuana is a "gateway" drug to
more insidious substances. This is an argument repeatedly offered by
proponents of the drug war.

However, the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, a major source of
national survey data on drug use in the United states and conducted by the
federal government since 1973, reports to the contrary.

In 1997 NHSDA data showed that 36 percent of the population over 12 years
old reported some drug use in their lifetimes, but that number dropped to 11
percent for use in the past year and to 6 percent in the past month.

These percentages have not changed significantly in the national data in a
generation and show that most illicit drug users are not "hard core"
addicts. Experimental or casual use does not eventuate in continued or
regular use.

Rob Hellyer, Houston