HE 'DIDN'T DESERVE DEATH PENALTY'

Dear editor:

The recent shooting death of Clayton Helriggle (in Preble County) by a
police SWAT team is only the latest tragic example of a drug war gone
horribly awry.

In April 2001, American missionary Roni Bowers and her 1-year-old baby,
Charity, were killed when their plane was shot down in a U.S.-funded drug
interdiction operation in Peru. Bowers' flight was mistakenly thought to be
smuggling drugs.

Eighteen-year-old Esequiel Hernandez was shot in the back by U.S. Marines
looking for marijuana smugglers on the Texas-Mexico border. Hernandez, who
had no criminal record and was not a drug suspect, was herding goats 100
yards from his home when he was killed.

And on the morning of Sept. 5, armed DEA agents raided the home of medical
marijuana patients and caregivers in Santa Cruz, Calif. Agents pointed
rifles to the head of Suzanne Pfeil, ordering her to put her hands up and
get out of bed. Pfeil was handcuffed to the bed when she couldn't get up:
she is disabled and can stand only with the use of crutches.

Clayton Helriggle didn't deserve the death penalty, but that's what he got,
without even the benefit of a trial.

Our failed drug laws have made terrorists out of those who were supposed to
protect us.

KRISSY OECHSLIN

Marijuana Policy Project

Washington, D.C.

www.mpp.org/TargetAmerica