THE REAL DRUG PROBLEM

DRUG Enforcement Administration director Asa Hutchinson (Opinion, Oct. 11)
made a powerful point when he noted that, in the United States, there are
16 million regular users of all illegal drugs, compared with 66 million
tobacco users and 109 million alcohol users. These numbers put into
excellent perspective the magnitude of the dual problems of tobacco and
alcohol addiction in our society -- and the comparative insignificance of
illegal drug use.

Perhaps the money spent funding the DEA would be better allocated to fund
tobacco and alcohol addiction treatment programs. Hutchinson himself admits
that these two substances represent the bulk of the drug "problem" in this
country.

Robert Kahn

Saratoga