TIME TO REFORM THE DRUG WAR

To the editor:

Re: "Drug war is just law enforcement" (May 15): I agree that alcohol and
nicotine are deadly substances -- unlike marijuana, which should also be legal.

It's wrong to criminalize a person for using something less dangerous than
legal substances, and it's wrong to spend our resources waging war on the
highly popular plant and its millions of consumers, when our country faces
far more serious drug problems (crack, heroin). In case anyone hasn't
noticed, we're losing the war on deadly narcotics, and it's time to reform
the drug war.

We should all take into consideration that deadly narcotics are readily
available, despite the federally budgeted war on drugs -- and prohibition
enables big-time drug dealers and small-time street gangs to profit.

It may be more reasonable to distribute these drugs through medical
facilities, where the user is facing rehabilitation. We haven't been
focusing enough on treatment or education. We've been too busy overwhelming
our criminal justice system.

Certainly, police officers and federal agents (for the most part) are just
doing their jobs and enforcing the law. However, with a clear indication
that the war on drugs is a wash, it would appear it's our lawmakers who
are, very unfortunately, wiping out.

Sandy Cote,

Toledo, Ohio