WALTER CRONKITE COLUMN ON THE U.S. WAR ON DRUGS

Re: "Drug war is a war on families," Aug. 8 Walter Cronkite column.

Major kudos to Walter Cronkite for his outstanding column. This is
perhaps the most important column he has ever written. The war on
drugs is perhaps our nation's most important issue. It has transformed
the United States into the most incarcerated nation on the planet and
in history.

Even though the U.S. has less than than 5 percent of the world's
population, we have more than 25 percent of the world's prisoners. In
other words, one of every four prisoners in the world is locked in an
American jail or prison.

This deserves our shame and outrage.

Most of our violent crime and property crime is "drug-related." And
almost all of our so-called "drug-related crime" is caused by our
drug-criminalization policies - not the drugs themselves.

Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz.