ADDICTS CAN RECOVER; CONVICTS USUALLY DON'T

(Re: Dec. 28 letter, "Drug legalization isn't the answer," by Wayne
C. Williams.)

As another former law officer, I understand the need to justify
helping send people to prison for decades.

Williams' statement, "Surely (former Officer Howard J.) Wooldridge
has worked cases where lowlifes commit crimes in order to feed their
habit," misses the point. The criminal justice system treats
drug-users like lowlifes whether they have committed other crimes or not.

Dec. 17 marked 93 years since the passage of the Harrison Narcotics
Act. Since then, more than 38 million Americans have been arrested
for plant products in their pockets.

A drug user may pay $20 for a nickel's worth of product sold through
the black market. Drug barons in Colombia, Mexico and Afghanistan
appreciate Williams' contribution to making that enormous price hike possible.

"How many families have lost a loved one to these deadly drugs?" asks
Williams. About 2 percent of those lost to tobacco and alcohol,
despite the fact that illegal drugs are made by untrained chemists,
contaminated with everything from baby powder to rat poison, and sold
in back rooms and alleyways.

When nearly every politician running for office has a history of
"youthful indiscretion" with drugs, Williams' advice to "put addicts
in jail where they belong and ease up on the probation" strikes me as
callous and shallow.

Dean Becker

Houston