U.S. ADDICTED TO THE WAR ON DRUGS

To the editor:

The war on drugs today is mostly about marijuana ("Medical marijuana:
U.S. must turn to Congress after ruling," June 8).

Marijuana arrests, convictions, incarcerations and property seizures
constitute the great majority of "drug-war incidents." Without
marijuana prohibition, the war on drugs and its bloated budgets would
simply not be justifiable -- nor the DEA, nor foreign intervention, nor
political anti-drug posturing. Without marijuana prohibition, the
whole war on drugs would soon fall apart.

America is in the throes of an addiction, to be sure. But that
dependency is on drug prohibition far more than on drug use. Enormous
and wildly increasing budgets are squandered on ever-higher doses of
the drug prohibition habit, and vehement denials that the prohibition
habit is the problem are heard along with pronouncements that with one
more big fix of "enforcement and interdiction," the drug problem will
be resolved.

And in great irrational fear of the imagined rigors of withdrawal, the
addict is ready to commit any disgrace, deception, crime or
doublethink whatsoever to get his fix. Drug prohibition has become a
monkey on the back of democracy itself.

Larry Seguin,

Lisbon, N.Y.