WASTE OF TIME?

I read most of your heroin series articles from afar, thanks to one of the
drug reform news services. Your series does a service in bringing these
horror stories to the forefront and making people hate drugs.

But what is missing is opening up a discussion on what to do to prevent
future horror stories. Your call-in show panelists were chosen mostly from
the get-tough school of drug control. This would tend to result in a
near-consensus for even more get-tough action. It is a natural thing to want
to do, but it has not worked, and it has been done at great societal cost.

If all this series concludes is to intensify more of the same, the `Star-
Telegram has wasted its resources and my time.

John Chase Palm Harbor, Fla.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst