ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS FAIL

Editor: Re: We'll Prove You Wrong, (The Times, Dec. 5).

Whatever your age, it takes guts to write a letter to a newspaper editor.

However, several studies prove anti-drug efforts either increase substance
abuse and youth use rates, or as Harold Woolridge (The Times, Nov. 28)
points out, have no meaningful influence on whether a teenager uses drugs,
legal or illegal.

Think about it. Woolridge formed Law Enforcement Against Prohibition -
against his own professional interests - to blow the whistle on such
fraudulent abuses of community resources.

My own country's "Justice" department even admits that during historical
periods of drug or alcohol prohibition, homicides increase drastically.

So, when a 10-year-old girl defends a program shown to increase marijuana
consumption among 12 and 13-year-old girls, I wonder about those charged
with her care.

I'm guessing Cpl. Tomalty's fun and worthwhile classes will steer clear of
discussing how alcohol prohibition increased budgets, firepower and
paychecks on both sides of that 'noble experiment'. Not to mention youth
access and abuse.

That's what I D.A.R.E. say.

Jose Melendez, DeLand, Florida