OUR WAR ON DRUGS IS NOT WORKING

To the editor:

I'm writing about your outstanding editorial: "Nothing to show: U. S.
anti-drug policy fails in Colombia" (April 12). I'd like to add that
it's not just in Colombia that our drug policy has failed.

In the past 36 years, we have completely wasted about $1 trillion
attempting to nullify the immutable law of supply and demand with our
so-called war on drugs. The net result: Drugs are just as available
today as they were in 1969.

In 1969, crack cocaine didn't exist. It does today.

In 1969, methamphetamine use was not at epidemic levels throughout the
nation. It is today.

In 1969, the United States was not the most incarcerated nation on the
planet and in the history of human civilization. We are today - thanks
mostly to our counterproductive war on drugs.

Even though we in the U.S. have fewer than 5 percent of the world's
population, we have more then 25 percent of the world's prisoners. In
other words, one out of every four prisoners in the world is locked in
an American jail or prison.

What message does this send to the rest of the world?

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.