Lionel de Leon's Aug. 28 Voices essay, in which he advocates the
legalization of drugs, couldn't have been more timely.

The same edition had a story about a "narcotics raid." According to
the El Monte Police Department, even though they had "no evidence"
that a house contained drugs, they raided it anyway, killing a
65-year-old man in the process.

This incident is the quintessential example of how the "war on drugs"
inspires a maniacal, zealot like mindset on the part of law
enforcement in a fruitless attempt to regulate drugs by establishing a
prohibition of them.

Jack B. Pollack
Redondo Beach