FAILED DRUG WAR

There are several "elephants" in the living room. On Aug. 30, the elephant
in New Orleans could no longer be ignored. Another elephant is the Drug
War. While the huge damage in New Orleans took place in a week, the huge
damage from the Drug War has been taking place for 30 years.

Have you noticed the nationwide proliferation of news articles about drug
busts, including methamphetamine? Remember, it is budget time. The Drug
Enforcement Administration must get massive funding from Congress to
continue the drug busts.

The Drug War has been going on for over 30 years, but nothing changes, the
dazzling statistics of the "Drug Czar" to the contrary notwithstanding.
Teenagers report that illegal drugs are more readily available to them than
alcohol. After all, alcohol is taxed and regulated, illegal drugs are
merely illegal. American consumers will get what American consumers want.

The real news is the huge amount of illegal drugs getting through the drug
busts and the interdiction network fully meeting the demand for illegal
drugs. Seldom is that news reported. It is time to take the billions upon
billions of dollars now spent on the Drug War and spend them on something
that works. The Drug War is another failed government program.

Why were the citizens, along with the politicians, sufficiently enlightened
in the 1930s to terminate Prohibition of that terrible drug alcohol by
constitutional amendment? Why are we so unenlightened today?

Frederick Chase, Jr.

Waukegan