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Why a war on drugs won't be effective

Re: "Bad news on drugs" (Editorial, Aug. 18):

You assert that the drug war can be won if we just give the federal
government the ability to reeducate our children and prompt a drug
user, President Clinton, to be a bully.

This sounds like Communiststyle indoctrination. But that is exactly the
problem with this nation's "war on drugs." In our desire to prohibit
dangerous substances and activities, we have sacrificed the most
important characteristic that our founders gave us: liberty.

Freedom not only suggests that citizens have the ability to speak freely
on whatever issue in which they believe, but also demands that we be
responsible for our actions.

Accordingly, a continuation of this insane war on drugs will cause a
further erosion of civil rights, an increase in those on welfare who
cannot find work due to a drug conviction, and our continued wasteful
spending on ineffective drug reeducation programs such as DARE, long
before it will rid us of drugs in our society.

MATTHEW S. McDONALD
San Diego


Your editorial is wrong. Prohibition will not work. It didn't work on
alcohol, it won't work on tobacco (which is hundreds of times more
lethal than all other drugs combined) and it certainly hasn't worked on
any of the banned substances currently called "drugs." No matter what
party is doing the "drug war" dance, none have done any good.

More than half the jail inmates in the United States are in for
drugrelated crimes. More than half the budget/time of our criminal
systems is taken up by drugs. We spend more on criminals now than we do
on children.

JIM LAW
San Diego


A license for alcohol

Alcohol consumption should be licensed. At age 21, each citizen should
receive a license that must be shown to buy alcoholic beverages.
Wifebeaters, rapists and other violent criminals, including drunk
drivers, should have their licenses revoked. Hosting a party attended by
an alcohollicense revokee and broken up by the poilce should result in
alcohol license revocation.

BILL APPLEDORF
San Diego