UNDERSTANDING FAILED ILLEGAL DRUG POLICY

To the editor:

On May 7, a letter to the editor from James Hanners was published in
the Delta Democrat Times in answer to an earlier letter from Howard
Wooldridge of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Wooldridge had called for legalizing drugs so they can be controlled
and regulated. Hanners is troubled that Wooldridge did not offer an
explanation of how such a policy might be implemented.

I have spoken on this subject 86 times since Oct. 15, 2002, and have
learned it takes about 90 minutes to adequately explain the
implementation of such a policy - it cannot be done in a letter to the
editor.

The best we can do in a letter is point out some of the harms
occurring as a result of drug prohibition, e.g., each year we arrest
1.6 million people in the U.S. for nonviolent drug-law violations -
half of those for marijuana offenses; the fact that we are destroying
the lives of our children (over half of high school seniors) and 87
million people over the age of 12 in the U.S. have used an illegal
drug.

Should we arrest them all?

If we did, there would be only two types of people in the U.S. - those
in prison and those who guarded them.

If you want to hear about possible alternatives to the failed U.S. war
on drugs, alternative policies that will lower the incidence of death,
disease, crime and addiction, request that one of LEAP's speakers
present to your group.

We have received standing ovations for exactly that kind of
presentation before Rotaries, Lions Clubs, churches and colleges
across the United States.

Jack A. Cole,

Medford, Mass.