A `MEDICAL PROBLEM'

Editor -- San Francisco Supervisor Gavin Newsom contends ``it is time to
treat heroin abuse less as a crime and more like a medical problem'' and
recommends operating methadone programs to combat addiction.

A fantastic notion! Remove ``heroin'' from his statement, however, and it
becomes a brilliant methodology for which to fight all drug abuse in general.

Drug abuse and addiction, after all, is a medical problem. But somehow, we
choose to combat the act of facilitating addiction, not the addiction
itself. It should be no surprise that our war on drugs has completely
failed to solve the very problem for which it was intended.

But not only has the war prevented us from addressing drug abuse, it has
created a black market flooded with guns, violence, corruption, and a
temptation to our youth that can only be created by prohibition.

Should we follow Newsom's strategy, we might take notice that while
methadone programs are more effective than prisons, they also diminish the
drug problem that our war has been incapable of denting.

The only path to victory over drug abuse is with doctors, not police.

JOEL W. JOHNSON
San Jose