DOLE DRUG PLAN LOOKS DRACONIAN

To The Editor: I read with more than passing interest the full page ad
called "the Dole Plan for North Carolina" that appeared Sept. 8 in the
Times-News.

One of Elizabeth Dole's proposals is to "Increase Federal Drug Penalties."
Given that our present drug laws have resulted in a larger percentage of our
population being in prison than in any other developed country, I wanted to
know more. The ad stated that the Web site DolePlan.com had more detail, but
that was not so.

So on the basis of the one-line description I am forced to assume that Dole
does not favor an expansion of drug treatment as an alternative to
incarceration, but proposes even more draconian measures for drug offenders,
extending punishment beyond the mandatory prison terms and eviction from
public housing that is now in effect.

Noelle Bush, Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter, is apparently a third-time drug
offender (January, using a fraudulent prescription; July, stealing
prescription drugs from a rehab center cabinet; and September, being in
possession of crack cocaine while in rehab).

Presumably under the "Dole Plan," Noelle Bush would now be doing hard time,
rather than remaining in a treatment program. And if it were determined that
she had stored drugs in the governor's mansion (or her uncle's White House),
I presume that the Dole Plan would have her relatives evicted, as have been
the mothers and grandmothers of other drug users living in subsidized
governmental housing.

Edward C. McIrvine

Hendersonville