DRUG TREATMENT SHOULD BE PRIORITY

To the editor; Regarding your July 28 editorial, "Fighting drugs," not only
is President Bush seeking to cut funding for the domestic war on
methamphetamine, but the Bush administration continues to wage an
international drug war that stands to boost meth production. Plan Colombia
is the equivalent of throwing good money after bad. U.S. tax dollars would
be better spent addressing the socioeconomic causes of civil strife in
Colombia rather than applying overwhelming military force to attack the
symptoms. We're not doing the Colombian people any favors by funding civil war.

Nor are Americans being protected from drugs. Destroy the Colombian coca
crop, and production will boom in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Destroy every
last plant in South America, and domestic methamphetamine production will
increase to meet the demand for cocaine-like drugs. The self-professed
champions of the free market in Congress are seemingly incapable of
applying basic economic principles to drug policy. Instead of wasting
scarce resources waging a futile supply-side drug war abroad, we should be
funding cost-effective drug treatment here at home.

ROBERT SHARPE, Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.