Waiting for help

To the editor:

Guatemala is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.
Drug dealers, chiefly the especially nasty Zeta cartel, more and more
are dominating both the economy and the political structure of the
country. The drug trade and inter-cartel battles, infiltration of the
governments, etc., are destroying Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras and
is a serious danger to other Latin American countries.

We have spent billions attempting to keep illegal drugs out of the
U.S. and we have failed. So what else can we do? When asked how we
could help, President Colom of Guatemala suggested Americans could
stop buying cocaine.

People who use cocaine and some other illegal drugs "recreationally"
- -- that is, the drugs have not (yet) become the central focus of their
lives -- should realize that each purchase contributes to the
destruction of happy and secure lives for citizens in Latin America.

The many others who are addicted have a treatable problem. However,
our government has decreed that some people with drug and alcohol
addiction will get treatment, and many others will die of their
addictions and will destroy the lives of families and others in the
process. We never have made a wholehearted commitment to provide
treatment for drug and alcohol addiction for all those who seek it. As
of a week ago, a man in Lawrence without good insurance would have to
wait four to six weeks to get residential treatment for severe cocaine
dependence. For many, that is too long to wait.

Joe Douglas

Lawrence