Pyrrhic Victory?

ROSELLE Reporter Laurie Goering describes Peru's reduction in the land
used for coca production in the country as a "small and important
victory'' in the war on drugs ("Peru's cocaine harvest withering," Page
1, Sept. 22).

The operative word here seems to be small, since Peru continues to be
the world's leading producer of coca, the raw material for cocaine,
according to the article. And, if we can trust reports from the U.S.
Office of National Drug Control Policy, cocaine remains as plentiful and
cheap as ever in our own nation.

The price of this socalled victory does not seem worth the meager
benefit. In addition to the more than $20 million a year needed from the
U.S. to maintain the program, the children of Peruvian peasants were
starved, and planes were shot out of the sky, even without evidence they
were involved in the cocaine trade.

On top of that, officials quoted in the article acknowledged that
farmers who have given up coca production could be swayed to return to
the crop at any time and that traffickers have found other methods and
routes for their business.

Attempts to paint this policy as a success show just how desperate drug
warriors are to find something positive in their futile and devastating
crusade

Steve Young