Letters To The Editor

NATION'S DRUG POLICY IS FAR FROM A SUCCESS

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Director Asa Hutchinson recently told
public-safety forces in Ohio that the nation's drug-control policy is working.

Lord, save us from ourselves.

How do you smuggle a weapon of mass destruction into the United States?
Hide it in a ton of marijuana or cocaine.

The DEA and other "security" forces want to grow, so they say they are
succeeding when they are not. Like our kids, the DEA's director knows that
it is easier to get drugs than it is to get alcohol, that it is easier to
get illegal drugs than it is to get prescription drugs, and that they are
cheaper, too. Drug control by force is not working.

Drugs corrupt the decisions of our leaders, the integrity of security
personnel and attorneys, and the health and safety of the public. Ninety
percent of U.S. prisoners have behavioral health disorders, but less than
25 percent got any treatment before prison, less than 10 percent get any
treatment in prison, less than 25 percent get any treatment upon release,
and 67 percent are rearrested within three years, according to federal
statistics. Our leaders know the numbers and know the current policy works
only to employ their supporters.

They do not push effective policies that actually work. We need drug
treatment -- much more treatment. For every dollar that goes toward
treatment, $4 to $10 goes to forceful drug control. Instead of dropping
over $1.5 billion on the Colombian "drug war," we should spend that money
on treatment. It is more cost-effective, but the drug-control industry of
guns, police, attorneys, military and prisons sucks up the money.

Hutchinson has the right to say his failing drug-control policy is working,
but this is a lie.

Why must a little drone like me say this? Because our "leaders" won't.

DAVID H. WEAVER, Certified chemical-dependency counselor, Westerville