DRUG WAR

Regarding Commander Freelove's response to my letter of November 22,
about shocking police corruption arising from the war on drugs, I can
only say his Clintonesque response of changing the subject and
attacking the messenger avoids a solution.

Yes I did observe drug running and crooked cops first hand when I was
married to the father of my children, a stage and film director and
producer in Las Vegas. We viewed the parade from a front row seat.
Remember that this was in the 50's when the mob ruled, and yes they
maintained an iron handed order. It was woe to the petty thief or
mugger that might discourage the public from bringing their money to
tinsel town.

The topic was retired Police Chief Joseph McNamara's forth-coming book
"Gangster Cops: The Hidden Cost of Americas War on Drugs". A Research
Fellow at Stanford, his expose details decay that can only be described as
cancerous, fed first by the obscene profits made possible by drug
prohibition and second by the police "code of silence", that keeps the rot
under wraps.

A summary published in the LA Times has been mailed to Commander
Freelove so that he may be better informed, as well as to the Auburn
Journal should they opt to publish it as a public service. Computer
buffs can view it on http://www.mapinc.org/find/ , U.S. OPED:
Perspective on Police September 21 1999, or the Los Angeles Times.

As to local corruption? How about the search, seizure, and forfeiture
laws which are nothing more than legalized theft? Is it any wonder
that the public has lost respect for the drug police, as well as the
judiciary? This should give us all, Commander Freelove, pause to
review our Bill of Rights, in particular the portion on unreasonable
search and seizures and defining the boundaries of federal and state
authority beyond which it is in the right of the people to do as they
please. Assuming you have sworn to protect and defend our
Constitution, 30 years of busting down doors, "just following orders,"
just doesn't wash.

Carol Colburn
Meadow Vista