DOCTORS COULD HELP BREAK THE DRUG OLIGOPOLY

To the Editor:

Lisa M. Najavits (letter, Jan. 18) criticizes Milton Friedman's reasoned
Jan. 11 Op-Ed article for failing to provide an alternative to the drug war.
But the war on drugs has led to a supply oligopoly run by hard-core violent
traffickers. Depriving the traffickers of their supply monopoly would help
decrease the deaths from violence and the crime that plague the inner
cities.

The job of dispensing what are now street drugs should be given to medical
doctors. The people seeking drugs should be required to go through screening
and counseling in which the negative effects of drug use are delineated. By
making it difficult but not impossible for people to acquire drugs, we can
make a significant dent in the supply dynamics.

Lessons from Prohibition should be taken to heart. Legalizing and regulating
alcohol helped end the social ills that bootlegging caused. If politicians
muster the courage, similar results can been realized in the case of drugs.

RAKESH KARMACHARYA Bronx, Jan. 18, 1998
The writer is a student at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company