AMERICA'S DRUG STRATEGY IS NOT WORKING

Major kudos to Dmitri King for his outstanding op-ed: "The Unwinnable
War" [May 4]. In 1970, the United States was not the most incarcerated
nation in the history of human civilization. We are today, thanks
mostly to the policies of our so-called war on drugs.

Even though we in the United States have fewer than 5 percent of the
world's population, we have more than 25 percent of the world's
prisoners. In other words, one out of every four prisoners in the
world is locked in an American jail or prison.

To be successful in any endeavor, one should do what successful people
do and avoid doing what unsuccessful people do. No other nation on the
planet has been less successful than the United States in solving its
recreational drug problems. Yet no other nation spends more of its
resources or imprisons more of its citizens for drug law violations.
Obviously, America's drug strategy is not working. Obviously, we must
make major changes in our drug policy or face continued failure.
Obviously, doing more of the same is not the answer to our nation's
drug problem.

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting a different result each time. It is also a good definition
of stupidity. America's drug strategy for the past 35 years has been
both insane and stupid.

It's time to do something different -- substantially different.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, AZ