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.)

RE: THE COMMENT on the letters page that "legalizing drugs would kill more
people and cause..." On what do you base your assertion? It certainly isn't
the experience of countries having liberalized drug policy. In fact, in
Switzerland, government distribution of heroin has worked so well, to
destroy the black market and curb crime, 73% of the voters elected to keep
it. In Holland, the experience has been similar. On the other hand, the
U.S. has some of the harshest, most draconian drug laws in the world and
violence is rampant. How about supporting the claim with some scientific or
even anecdotal evidence?

Gregory Handevidt

(The more accessible and accepted a narcotic, the more addicts there will be.)

"WATCH BELGIUM'S petty crime rate soar." was the response to a letter of
May 21 regarding Belgium legalizing marijuana. What evidence do you have
that cannabis causes any crime other than the violation of an insane
prohibition law based on Reefer Madness claims that pot causes mayhem,
murder, burglary, rape, racial mixing, insanity and a few other felonies.
If you cannot prove these accusations, the foundation for your prohibition
disappears, so how about some proof? How many marijuana homicides has the
Sun reported in the last 60 years? And how many related to alcohol? What
hypocrites! Meanwhile, how about offering some factual testimony that
marijuana use has ever caused an increase in crime anywhere? Like in
Holland for starters. Your intellectual bankruptcy is showing.

Redford Givens
San Francisco

(We're not just talking about marijuana here, so chill out.)

Checked-by: Richard Lake