DRUG PROSECUTIONS

To the Editor:

In "Cocaine and White Teens" (column, Jan. 10), Charles M. Blow writes
that white teenagers use more cocaine than black teenagers, and cites
a ratio of 10 to 1 of white versus black teenagers entering drug
treatment for crack and cocaine use.

A significant but missing statistic is white versus black teenagers
entering the criminal justice system.

F.B.I. statistics for many years have shown more whites than blacks
arrested for drugs, while more blacks than whites are incarcerated. We
should not lose sight that our war on drugs has been a war on people
of a certain color.

Howard Josepher

New York

The writer is president of Exponents, which helps people affected by
drug addiction.