TIME TO LEGALIZE DRUGS

Regarding "U.S. Anti-Cocaine Effort Fails" (Nation/World, Aug. 19):

Add to this the recent news that a major drug lord was just captured,
but his cartel continues to function; and in spite of our military
success there, Afghanistan is now a leading producer of opium
("Afghan Opium Cultivation Surges," Nation/World, Aug. 17).

These and other drug war stories make it obvious that our long-term,
multibillion-dollar war on drugs is a dismal failure.

Since nothing else has worked, isn't it time to fight the worldwide
drug scourge by legalizing and controlling drugs at every level?

Moralists say this will only encourage more people to become addicts.
But wouldn't it be more in line with moral principles to take the
drug trade out of the hand of killers and control it? Then the
profits would go to help those addicted instead of to corrupting
police and governments and filling our jails with otherwise innocent
men and women who were lured into trying drugs and paid the high
price of loss of freedom and scattered lives.

Robert Rafferty

Sun City Center