DRUG WAR WORKS -- FOR CRIMINALS

To the editor:

DEA Special Agent Will Glaspy used 9/11 victims as a benchmark by which to
measure illicit drug deaths and circular logic to promote the war on (some)
drugs ("The drug war is working fine," April 24).

Actually, well over 100 times more Americans die from drug use every year
than were lost in the 2001 attacks. Their deaths were caused by legal uses
of dangerous and defective nicotine, alcohol, chemical and pharmaceutical
products.

Exempted from prosecution for those deaths, manufacturers of legal
medications, intoxicants and poisons (along with the incarceration and
"treatment" industries) earn many billions of dollars in profits thanks to
the restraint of any lawful trade in coca, cannabis and poppies.

Sure, drug prohibition works. It works to increase the per capita homicide
rate, along with youth prescription and hard drug abuse, not to mention
huffing fatality rates. Despite Glaspy's anecdotal claims to the contrary,
prohibition always boosts profits for crooks. Who but a con artist would
list $160 billion in costs created by a policy as reason to continue
investing in the scam?

Follow the money, and you'll find the truth: The push to keep spending on
"Plan Colombia" contracts that poison people and the planet is evidence
that drug war works to promote careers and enormous wealth for a few, at
the expense of us all.

Jose Melendez,

DeLand, Fla.