GILMORE'S DRUG PROPOSAL WILL ACHIEVE NOTHING

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Our redoubtable Governor Gilmore, issuing ex cathedra pronouncements
against the drug barons, has flung down the gauntlet. Righteous Gilmore
defies these characters in the usual empty platitudes. Who in the upper
echelons of the capitalistic drug market would pay any attention to this
Don Quixote, especially if they reside in Mexico, Ecuador, or Colombia?

After billions of our taxpayers' dollars and more than 20 years of the
so-called war on drugs, mandatory sentencing, etc., this war has been a
colossal fiasco. So Gilmore, in his wisdom, is ready to assure a
super-botch. What he means to do is ensure that more black males will
recognize their sinful behavior by lengthy terms in prison.

Like all the benighted supporters of the war on drugs, his focus is wholly
on the supply side. It is obvious that there has been no interruption of
the flow of drugs into our country. The payoff in terms of money and
influence makes the enterprise worthwhile. If there is a demand for some
good or service, someone will pop up to supply it.

As long as the demand for drugs remains full-blown, the drug trade will
continue. The propaganda in the media keeps the focus on minorities and
lower socio-economic classes, and ignores drug usage in the white middle
and upper classes. Gilmore's proposals manifest this bias. So he
contributes nothing but a potential waste of taxpayers' money. I want my
taxes to buy civilization, not this mindless boondoggle of the war on drugs.

H. Otto Dahlke, Richmond.