LAWS AND INCARCERATION HAVE FAILED IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

Your editorial on the drug war ("Drug war can't succeed without
refocusing," May 17) was based on erroneous assumptions.

Drug abuse reduction hinges on law enforcement and interdiction,
treatment and education. Since we began the Nixon "War on Drugs," the
overwhelming percentage of federal expenditures has been on law
enforcement. Tons of confiscated drugs are displayed on the news with
regularity, but the amount interdicted is a drop in the bucket.

Regarding international efforts, it is important to remember that
former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld forbade the destruction
of poppy fields in Afghanistan, a policy that has stood. I was
recently in Peru, where a large percentage of cocaine originates.

At a briefing at the U.S. Embassy, we were told that our government
is paying coca farmers to grow other crops. However, when talking
with locals in the Peruvian Andes, we were told that the drug dealers
simply outbid the U.S. government, causing the farmers to continue
their production of coca.

Encouraged by your editorial, governments will continue to increase
funding for law enforcement and build prisons while reducing
treatment and education funding. This is a failed approached verified
by 40 years of frustration.

Tom Butler, Camden