* * * Scheer described the failure of society's desperate efforts to
throw off the incubus of crack babies and doperelated crime. However,
those who flout our laws must expect punishment. If the incarceration
of addicts is of doubtful value, then let's substitute a mandatory
sentence of treatment for jail. And in lieu of this kind of offender,
fill our jails with the armed misfits who prey on decent citizens.

INGRID RALSTON,
Los Angeles