QUESTION: WHICH SHOULD BE GIVEN MORE WEIGHT IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR LAW
ENFORCEMENT -- DRUGS OR TERRORISM?

Exactly how much more money should be invested in a long failed drug
crusade? Billions of dollars have been wasted fighting drug use with
no reduction in drug addiction, so how many more dollars should be put
into this ruinous policy?

Before drug prohibition began, no one was robbing, whoring and
murdering over drugs. A legal heroin habit was cheaper than a tobacco
addiction in 1912. Drug crimes (i.e. robberies, etc., to get drugs)
were unheard of. Ditto for unintentional drug overdoses. Almost all of
the infrequent opiate deaths before the drug crusade began were
suicides. Accidental overdoses were rare.

Because of a misguided drug war, the United States now has the largest
prison population on Earth, and the drug czar tells us there are more
than 30,000 drug deaths every year, where previously overdoses were
rare. How long will we continue paying for such a lethally
counterproductive policy?

After doling out billions and incarcerating millions, in the past 92
years, illegal drugs are getting purer, more widely available and
dropping in price everywhere. How much more taxpayer money should be
poured into this futile and fraudulent endeavor?

How much more money should we throw away pursuing the impossible and
destructive dream of a drug-free America?

Redford Givens, San Francisco, Calif.