DRUG DEMAND FUELS WARFARE

I want to applaud your editorial on the drug warfare on the
Mexico-U.S. border %r8"Growing fears on the southern border," Mar. 7).
You didn't go far enough, however.

There's a reason why drug cartels are fighting and killing to
maintain their drug smuggling paths into the United States. We are
buying their drugs in enormous quantities.

If the market is here, they will come. I have no faith that a policy
focused only on intercepting drug shipments, fighting the smugglers
and building a fence on our border with Mexico, will solve the problem.

There has to be an honest and long-term commitment to funding drug
treatment programs, or our finger won't and can't hold the dike.

Steven Barry

Southeast Portland