PAPER RIGHT TO BACK LEGALIZATION

To the editor:

Last year, the King County, Wash., Bar Association, in conjunction with the
medical society in King County, did a drug policy study. They determined
that the most important objectives of a drug policy should be:

* Enhanced public order and reduced crime. * Improved public health. *
Protection of children. * Efficient use of scarce public resources.

Their report concluded that "The War on Drugs has not only failed to
fulfill any of these objectives, but also has exacerbated the very problems
it was designed to address." You are quite right to support change.

The war on drugs benefits formidable special interests and remains in place
for that reason only. The special interests include every federal agency,
the defense industry, the prison industry, law enforcement, the drug
testing industry, the drug treatment industry, the home security industry,
the tobacco and liquor industries, the media, the pharmaceutical industry
and, of course, the international illicit drug cartels.

I am certain that Byron D. Cagle ("Stupid to back legalization," Aug. 15)
earns his living in one of these areas. Fear of losing his livelihood is
the only logical reason for such a hysterical, illogical defense of the
status quo.

SUZANNE WILLS Drug Policy Forum of Texas, Dallas