CUT THE DEMAND

Regarding your Aug. 15 editorial on Colombia, not only is our government
turning a blind eye to paramilitary human rights violations, but a very
real environmental threat is being ignored.

In an effort to eradicate coca plants, toxic herbicides are sprayed from
above, hitting water supplies, staple crops, and people. The aerial
eradication campaign drives peasants further into the Amazon basin, which
in turn leads to more rain forest destruction. Plan Colombia could very
well spread both coca production and civil war throughout South America.

U.S. tax dollars would be better spent addressing the underlying
socioeconomic causes of civil strife rather than applying overwhelming
military force to attack the symptoms. We're not doing the Colombian people
any favors by funding civil war. Nor are Americans being protected from
drugs. Instead of waging a futile supply-side war abroad, we should be
funding cost-effective drug treatment here at home.

Robert Sharpe

Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.