WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME

Dear Editor:

Regarding Andy Stone's June 8 column ("Who thinks Aspen's just like
Pakistan? The DEA, of course"), I'm not surprised to read that the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration treats Aspen like Pakistan.

There is a major drug war schism underway, with enlightened states
like Colorado pursuing reform and a federal government stuck in the
past. Don't look to the Obama administration for change. The White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy immediately rejected the
high-profile Global Commission on Drug Policy call for reform and
defended the "balanced drug control efforts" of the federal
government. These "balanced" efforts have given the land of the free
the highest incarceration rate in the world.

Prohibition-related violence has caused upwards of 35,000 deaths in
Mexico over the past four years. Despite criminal penalties, the U.S.
has higher rates of drug use than European Union countries like
Portugal that have decriminalized. With national debt soaring, we can
no longer afford to throw good money after bad drug policy.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.