U.S. DRUG POLICY IS INSANE

To the editor:

By God, it was wonderful to see such bold and evident truth in The Monitor
regarding the failure of the drug war ("Nothing to show: U.S. anti-drug
policy fails in Colombia," April 12).

Your editorial stated cleanly what has become ever more obvious. The
U.S.-mandated/world drug policy does indeed correlate to your phrase:
"Insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over,
expecting different results each time."

Ninety years, more than half a trillion dollars frittered away, tens of
millions of non-violent U.S. citizens' and their families' lives destroyed
by drug arrests, needless overdose deaths, black-market purchases funding
the terrorists, cartels and violent gangs that mean us harm.

Most glaringly deviant from our supposed intent is our eternal support of
the mechanisms that make it possible for street-corner vendors to profit
from selling drugs to our children. Drugs are now cheaper, purer and more
freely available than ever before. Yes, the U.S. "drug policy" fits the
definition of insanity quite well.

Dean Becker

Houston