AHEAD: A DRAFT?

As you revealed with words like `advisers' and `escalating' in your Aug. 1
editorial about the fight against narcotics, the crash of a U.S. spy plane
in Colombia is reminiscent of our slow drift into the quagmire of Vietnam. I
appreciate the `Star-Telegram being quick to sound the alarm.

U.S. military "aid" to Colombia has doubled every year since the early
1990s, and this year we are talking about quadrupling such aid to more than
$1 billion.

If Americans don't speak up and put an end to this war-on-drugs madness, the
children of Vietnam-era soldiers can look forward to military service in the
much larger jungles of South America.

We face the prospect of drafting young Americans out of their homes to fight
and die in a faraway jungle -- for the purpose of protecting themselves from
themselves if they were left alone at home.

BOB RAMSEY Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Irving