DRUG FIGHT WASTE OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY

My colleague Sheriff Rachals "hopes the 25-year sentence for Russell
Jenkins will send a message" demonstrates how hopelessly naive he is
about drug dealers. During my 18 years of working the trenches of the
drug war, I learned that drug dealers accept, as a condition of
employment, death and long prison terms. Dealer Jenkins has already
been replaced as a low-level dealer (90 grams is like two candy bars
worth of cocaine). The real victim is the Georgia taxpayer, who will
spend at least $600,000 to lock him up.

That my profession must enforce this modern prohibition is
regrettable and a horrific waste of good police time. To have a
sheriff who is unaware of the dynamics of those involved in the drug
trade is scary.

Howard Woolwridge, Washington, D.C.