U.S. DRUG POLICIES PRODUCE FAILED WAR

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Blending the war on terror with the war on drugs is
dangerous mission creep.

DEA agent and Commentary columnist Joe Dombroski has one thing right, the
nexus between illegal drugs and violence is lethal, but he fails to concede
his own agency's role in keeping that relationship alive. In fact, the
government is part of a cartel that keeps profits high for
narco-traffickers. This is accomplished through the systematic waste of
police resources on drug law enforcement. Without this flawed effort, drugs
would be very cheap, and they could be regulated.

Regulation of drugs would enhance public safety. Children could be
protected where they are now endangered. The cheaper prices would have no
extra profits for supporting any type of political goal. There would be no
motivation for the gang violence we see today.

World War II was a war against totalitarianism, but to win the war on drugs
we would need to enlist the totalitarian tactics of our former enemies.
What other way is there to keep people away from products they desire? Our
military can capture Osama bin Laden and wipe al-Qaeda off the face of the
Earth, but our struggle with our own appetites must be kept private or we
will find ourselves living under something resembling the Taliban more than
the free democracy our Founders envisioned.

Lennice Werth