SAGAN SHOWS COURAGE

In reply to Greg Sagan's opinion column on June 14 ("Anger, fear spur
prison building boom"), I thank Sagan for having the courage to speak
out against the war on drugs.

The war on drugs has been going on for decades and it is not working.
While it is failing, it also is ruining a lot of lives.

This war is waged against our own citizens. Drug abuse is and will
always be a real problem in our society, but treating the addicted
like criminals does not help. Some drugs like marijuana, alcohol,
nicotine, and caffeine can be used responsibly and people should
retain, or in the case of marijuana regain the right to use these
drugs for recreation or spiritual purposes.

Other drugs like the ever-expanding list of prescription medications
need tighter regulation and restriction to protect consumers.

Ending the war on drugs has the potential to cut billions of dollars a
year from the federal budget, not to mention create some much-needed
room at our correctional institutions.

Before we rush to ideas about cutting popular programs like Medicaid
and Medicare, shouldn't we first consider ending a program that is
much less popular and ineffective to boot?

Bill Mosteller

Amarillo