FUND DRUG TREATMENT INSTEAD OF DRUG WAR

When it comes to the drug war, mandatory minimum sentences have done
little other than turn the alleged land of the free into the world's
biggest jailer ("Sentencing sanity," editorial, Jan. 14).

If draconian penalties deterred illegal drug use, a "drug-free"
America would have been achieved decades ago. Now, instead of adding
to the highest incarceration rate in the world, we should be funding
drug treatment.

The drug war is a cure that's worse than the disease. Drug prohibition
finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then
used to justify increased drug war spending.

It's time to end this madness and instead treat all substance abuse,
legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is.

Robert Sharpe

Washington

The writer is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy.