U.S. WAR ON DRUGS

Re: "Should U.S. end war on drugs?" Sept. 12 Open Forum.

Here we go again, with what I call "wave the magic wand, pass some
legislation and all the problems will be cured."

I read all eight of the letters in response to The Post's call for
reforming the nation's drug laws, and only one, from Stan White of
Dillon, even hinted at the problems that would remain after passing
the magic cure-all of legislation.

First, who would buy or manufacture the drugs in the U.S. to ensure
their quality or safety? There would seem to be only one answer: the
federal government.

Second, who would distribute the now-legal drugs? Liquor stores? Don't
they have enough problems handling their own products for sale without
having a new bunch of zoned-out customers lined up at the cash
registers? Since these are now legal drugs, how about pharmacies?
Frankly, I can't imagine any thinking pharmacists - who depend on
their prescription trade - considering putting their regular customers
in that sort of atmosphere.

So, where does that leave us? What else could there be but government
drug stores? (Federal, of course, because some states would not want
to run dope stores.)

Now there is a program that would really create 100,000 jobs a
president could be proud of and would certainly be entitled to take
all the credit for their creation and move on to bigger government.

Miles C. McCormack, Grand Junction