What is happening today in the drug war reminds me of the Pied Piper
of Hamelin fable in which the children were stolen because city
authorities dealt treacherously. Today the treacherous dealing has
been with the truth, and it has fostered an environment in which an
untold number of drug dealers have easy access to the children, and
some children are returning in body bags.

Why are the Dutch so much more successful than we are in controlling
drugs? Is it because they have decriminalized marijuana and made
needle exchange and drug treatment widely available? Their rate of
incarceration is `one ninth,' and their rate of enforcement
expenditure `one third,' that of the United States, yet in every
measurement of illegal drugs they are significantly better.

Why are Britain and other countries that follow the U.S. model of
drug war drowning in drugs? Why are Switzerland, Australia and New
Zealand pulling away from our lead? Could we be wrong?

Larry Nickerson
Fort Worth