THIS WAR IS WRONG

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

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson