DRUG PROHIBITION HELPS TERRORISM

In regard to your Jan. 26 editorial, "Just say no to drug legalization," I
find it interesting the Globe-News has come out in support of terrorism.

The Drug Enforcement Agency monotonously proclaims that drug money supports
terrorism. Exorbitant drug profits are made possible by prohibition.
Therefore, the Globe-News, with its support of prohibition, also supports
terrorism.

Your commendation of N.M. Gov. Bill Richardson turned out to be a poorly
disguised excuse to take one more slap at former Gov. Gary Johnson.

You state that Johnson probably will be remembered for his incessant
attempts to keep the drug issue in the forefront. You are right about that.
A few years down the road, he will be remembered as a voice of sanity
speaking against the insanity of the war on drugs.

Legalization is a complex issue, with many nuances. When you say
"legalization," do you mean legalization like aspirin, where anybody can
get it at any "quick market"? Or do you mean legalization like alcohol, or
tobacco, with controls and taxation? Or do you mean something else?

Rather than labeling Johnson with the red herring tag of legalizer, why
don't you invite him and drug czar John Walters to write op-ed pieces for
your paper in a kind of point-counterpoint debate?

I have heard Johnson speak on more than one occasion. He is not a blanket
legalizer, nor am I. But there must be a better way than our current policy
which fills prisons with non-violent offenders, lines the pockets of black
market kingpins while sending their underlings to prison, and undercuts
constitutional rights to due process for all of us.

The Rev. Charles Kiker

Tulia