To the Editor:

A. M. Rosenthal advocates that drugs "must be fought by every legal
technique" (column, April 9). Of course, this is what has been done, over
and over again.

When the currently legal techniques don't work, we simply expand what is
"legal" for the government to do. Routine body searches (drug tests) and
civil forfeiture (confiscation without due process) are just the outrage of
the day.

And we didn't even have to change the Constitution; we just had to change
our minds about what abuses we would accept.

With enough support for the drug war, there is no limit to what the
government could do to "save" us from ourselves.

LYNN CAROL
San Diego,