WAR ON DRUGS' SIDE EFFECTS MAKE EFFORT INEFFECTIVE

A recent headline touts, "Task Force Cracks Major Cocaine Ring." The
Polk County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area supposedly shut down
a major cocaine-trafficking ring. As a former law enforcement
officer, I was not impressed.

This useless and senseless waste of money and manpower exemplifies
the futility of the war on illegal drugs. The confiscation of $1
million in marijuana and cocaine will do absolutely nothing to stem
the flow. Not a single drug user will have any more difficulty
obtaining these substances as a result of this costly police action.

The only effect will be a temporary increase in the price and a
corresponding rise in crime. Drug users will have to break into more
houses, steal more cars and rob more people to cover the additional
cost. Drug addicts are basically lazy people with only one goal in
mind, and that is to use drugs. They do not want to commit crimes,
but the system forces them to do so.

This writer, having served in law enforcement on the local, state and
federal levels, believes that the lack of willingness to stop the
drug trafficking is calculated. There is simply too much money
involved. It is big business.

Many smaller countries could not survive without American drug
dollars floating their economies. There are many neighborhoods in the
United States that depend heavily on the drug trade and the money it
brings to the community.

The occasional police actions, which are for show, only create more
problems for law-abiding citizens.

DANIEL INSDORF
Winter Haven