THANKS FOR GETTING TO CRUX OF THE MATTER

Cheers to The Standard-Times for cutting to the heart of what the Bush
cocaine question is really about ("Cornered, George W. Bush flails but
he cannot connect," Aug. 21). How many of the 1.1 million non-violent
offenders currently incarcerated in America might have turned out to
be successful businesspeople or political leaders -- perhaps better
ones than George W. Bush -- if they hadn't been tossed in jail for
their personal bad habits?

Your editorial rejects Bush's waffling about "youthful indiscretions,"
observing: "Either cocaine use and possession is a serious crime or it
isn't." Let's face it -- it's not. Occasional recreational drug use
does not lead inexorably to personal downfall. On the other hand,
throwing Americans in jail for such drug use is guaranteed to destroy
their lives and push them farther away from mainstream society.
Prohibition didn't work for alcohol, and it isn't working for other
drugs, either.

KEITH SANDERS
El Cerrito, CA