DRUG PROBLEM IS IN THE U.S.

Re "A Plan B for Colombia," editorial, Nov. 22

Regarding your thoughtful editorial, Plan Colombia could spread both
coca production and civil war throughout South America. U.S. tax
dollars would be better spent addressing the socioeconomic causes of
civil strife in Colombia than applying military force to attack the
symptoms. We're not doing the Colombian people any favors by funding
civil war. Nor are Americans being protected from drugs. Destroy the
Colombian coca crop and production will boom in Peru, Bolivia and
Ecuador. Destroy every last plant in South America and domestic
methamphetamine production will increase to meet the demand for
cocaine-like drugs. Free-market champions in Congress seem incapable
of applying basic economics to drug policy. Instead of waging a futile
supply-side drug war abroad, we should be funding cost-effective drug
treatment here at home.

Robert Sharpe

Washington

The writer is a policy analyst at Common Sense for Drug Policy.