DECRIMINALIZATION WOULD AID HARD-DRUG EFFORTS

Regarding Lee Cataluna's July 22 column: She has conjured a straw man,
saying that legalization is not the answer to crystal meth because the
addicts wouldn't switch to marijuana.

Decriminalization -- decreasing penalties to fines and not jail time -- is
proven to reduce use. Rather than busting their butts on minor drug
offenders, our cops could go after the harder stuff.

Marijuana offenders fill our overpacked jails at the state's expense,
$23,000 per offender per year, often serving more time than rapists. They
emerge from our flawed system as damaged goods.

President Carter said the punishment for drug use must not be harsher than
using the drug itself, and he saw that that was the case with marijuana.

The blame for the epidemic lies closer to home, with permissive parents and
a failed drug education program with no proven effectiveness. We must scrap
D.A.R.E. for a better program. It costs far less to educate than to
incarcerate.

Matthew Won

Kane'ohe