NATION'S WAR ON DRUGS NEEDS BASIC OVERHAUL

I read with interest George Will's column, "Dose of realism in a drug
war" (Oct. 29), and hope the day is coming soon whereby science rules
over ideology. It is past time we face our drug situation with facts
and ideas that work for our people and not bureaucrats or ideologues.

Our legislative testimony process has been bastardized by
well-meaning but money-hungry lobbying efforts by law enforcement,
the prison industry and a drug-abuse industrial complex so hungry for
our dollars that it often distorts truth and relies on gutter science
providing cover for the mess we are in called a "drug war."

President Nixon's drug war lies cannot be reformed, only revoked.
Those in Congress and statehouses clinging to Nixon's lie must also
be revoked. Government must invite drug-law-reform-minded groups into
the testimony process or risk all credibility. Our elected officials
cannot debate matters conveniently left out of the testimony process.

Peter Christopher

Hurdle Mills