I AM writing in response to Bill Kaufmann's May 18 column, "War on
drugs is a losing battle." The idea of a "war on drugs" is a band-aid
to an age-old human condition.

Particularly harmful is a war on the small percentage of people using
controlled drugs experimentally and discovering some of these drugs
relieve chronic pain they didn't know they had. You may ask how that
is possible.

A poor person, or someone in chronic crisis may not be aware or wish
torecognize the constant pain of a root canal infection, a bone spur,
etc. When this same person uses heroin, they can enjoy the
"pain-healing" properties of opiates and not necessarily become aware
of the main cause of their pain symptoms.

This pain-relief/pain-gain cycle can lead to repeated use of opiates;
which can lead to addiction.

This is identical to the addiction process of a teen smoker who finds
"calm" in a cigarette and begins to associate smoking with calmness.

This physical process of experimentation and deliberate opiate and
psychedelic drug use is not in itself a health problem.

The effects of a war on addiction, however, are a "health"
problem.

Aaron Lagadyn

(Sounds like pipe dream to us Aaron.)