DRUG CZAR SPREADS FALSE INFORMATION

I had the displeasure of hearing the nation's drug czar speak in
Guntersville June 30. I had intended to ask some very tough questions of
this man but the planned question-and-answer session was abruptly cancelled
and Walters was quickly whisked away in a bright yellow Humvee amidst tight
security.

Walters' speech was disappointing. Taxpayers should reasonably expect an $11
billion drug war budget to produce a distortion of the facts somewhat less
transparent than that presented by Walters. Look what the Iraqi information
minister was able to accomplish on a limited budget.

Walters claims marijuana is more dangerous than cocaine. However, in the
last 5,000 years of recorded history, marijuana has never killed anyone. One
would have to eat 40 pounds in 15 minutes or smoke 1,500 pounds in 15
minutes in order to overdose.

Mr. Walters claims 63 percent of people entering drug treatment programs are
there for marijuana. He also said that the majority of teens "submitting
themselves" for treatment were there for marijuana. Teens under 18 years of
age cannot voluntarily sign themselves into treatment. This is forced
treatment to stay out of juvenile detention and for adults who have gone
through drug court it is an option to stay out of jail. It does not mean
they are addicted.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services:

In 336,900 substance-abuse treatment admissions (21 percent of total
admissions), marijuana was reported as secondary to abuse of another
substance. That is, in 60 percent of the admissions involving marijuana in
2000, marijuana was not the primary substance of abuse.

Among secondary marijuana admissions, 56 percent had alcohol as the primary
substance of abuse, 21 percent cocaine, 11 percent stimulants, 10 percent
opiates, and 2 percent other substances.

Walters strongly supports turning our schools into armed camps where
children are guilty until proven innocent. The government has no business in
our bladders and certainly not in the bladders of our children. The last
time a student was suspected of using drugs in an Alabama school he was
entrapped by undercover narcotics agents and faced 26 years in state prison.
Don't think it can't happen to your children.

The War on Drugs is a wasteful counter-productive government jobs program
that creates the crime it claims to protect us from while trampling the Bill
of Rights in the process. It is time for Americans to hold these cowardly
politicians responsible for the damage their failed policies have caused and
to demand an end to the drug war aka The War on the American people.

Loretta Nall

Alexander City 35010