WAR CASUALTIES

Harmish McKenzie pokes a good hole in the myths of the drug war in
his excellent Nov. 20 column, "How to wage a successful war on drugs."

When the "land of the free" becomes "the land of the most
incarcerated," we have erred grievously. When the results of the drug
war are examined, we find a situation more racist in its present
state than in its founding: We now incarcerate young black males at a
rate seven times greater per capita than did South Africa under their
universally condemned policy of apartheid.

Prohibition will always fail. We must re-legalize all drugs in order
to remove the cartels' grasp on the golden-egg-laying goose of prohibition.

- - Allan Erickson, Eugene, Ore.