Lt. Gov. Brad Owen needs to reread the Constitution. Our founding
fathers specifically precluded using the military against its own
citizens and there are excellent reasons for these prudent laws.

Owen is laboring under the misguided assumption that, since prohibition
of drugs has been such a dismal failure, we should erode Constitutional
law so that we can do more of it. It is just this kind of
oddball rationale that has caused us to waste over $1 trillion on the
drug war, ruin our criminal-justice system, and destroy our economy.
Meanwhile any 8-year-old can score a bag of weed.

It simply amazes me that our country puts such people in positions of
power. What does it take to convince our "leaders" that prohibition
doesn't work? Over 30 percent of African-American males aged
20-30 are under criminal-justice supervision. What would Owen consider
winning? One hundred percent perhaps?

We need to work toward electing people who can do more than parrot tired
drug-war rhetoric and begin looking at alternatives to our failed
policies of prohibition. We must begin to get some real control
over drug distribution and profits. We don't do that by allowing street
dealers to be the only ones making the rules or by sicking the military
on our citizens.

Mark Greer
Porterville, Calif.