DRUGS, SEX NO BIG DEAL

I have been reading a number of articles in your paper with growing
alarm and astonishment, culminating with the one in The Times titled
"Drug busts tactics ethical?" (June 20).

We are told that the police use unsuspecting "clucks" to bring
together the drug dealer and the policeman. The "clucks" are then
rewarded for their unwitting betrayal with enough money to buy drugs
for themselves or else the police just cut out the middleman and
simply hand over a portion of the drugs they just purchased. I was
shocked to learn that state law specifically allows police to violate
some laws in order to enforce others.

I have just returned from Amsterdam where both marijuana and
prostitution are legalized and regulated by the government, and guess
what? It's no big deal! I expected to see the streets filled with
spaced-out hippies and slovenly streetwalkers.

We like to say that America is the land of the free but the ratio of
people in prison to population here is second only to Russia, and most
of those citizens are incarcerated for drug offenses.

My friends, I am here to tell you that sex is natural and a smoking
gun is a lot more dangerous than a smoking pipe.

Marshall Dunlap,
Kent