WAR ON DRUGS IS COMPLETE FAILURE

Thank you, Lee Kennedy, for the recent (March 1) letter concerning
drugs and imprisonment. The war on drugs has cost taxpayers billions
of dollars across the years and has been a complete failure. It really
has been a war on the American citizen.

I do not condone drug use in any form, including the use of alcohol,
over-the-counter drugs or the many deadly drugs freely prescribed by
doctors for the slightest ills, but I do believe strongly in a
person's right to do what he or she wants with their own body. The
personal consequences of alcoholism and drug addiction are severe
enough without a mandatory prison sentence for a non-violent crime.

I am outraged when I hear of persons convicted of rape, murder,
robbery, assault and battery, home invasion, child abuse and neglect
and on and on going free on probation when our prisons are flooded
with non-violent offenders. Drug addiction is a medical, spiritual and
psychological problem. The addict must be educated and offered a real
solution. At this point, it becomes the addict's responsibility to
live by the solution or die by the drug. The prison system as it is
does very little to educate and rehabilitate. These people will then
re-enter the community with confusion, resentment and hopelessness.
Most will return to old behaviors.

I believe prohibition would only create more crime. I believe we need
more community involvement and understanding. These laws enable us to
avoid the real problem. Laws treat the symptom while the cause remains
buried.

Reggie Moysan

Spencer