ORIGINS OF PAIN

Editor - Trained to use lethal force, traumatized and drug-addicted by
their wartime experiences, more and more young men such as Sgt.
Binkley, who are essentially walking time bombs, will be left to
wander about our cities during the coming years. The only way society
can protect itself from the kinds of violent crimes they are likely to
commit is to provide the drugs they are seeking, free of charge. I am
sympathetic to Binkley's problems but, whatever the extenuating
circumstances, armed robbery is a very serious crime.

It doesn't matter whether it's a former West Point graduate and Army
Ranger pointing a gun at you, or a high school kid out for kicks; if
something goes wrong, the results can be fatal. From burglaries to
carjacking to muggings to armed robbery, most crime seems to have its
origins in some kind of drug-seeking activity. Does anyone really
think that the needle-using campers of Golden Gate Park are paying for
their habits by recycling cans?

If we can't deal with the original trauma, be it mental illness or
PTSD, we can at least deal with the addiction by giving addicts and
whoever else wants them free access to drugs so they won't have to
break into private homes or point guns at pharmacists and other
innocent people to obtain them.

CAROL HASKILL

San Francisco