Speak Out ...

ON CIVIL WARS AND THE DRUG TRADE

Your recent editorial on Colombia fails to ask one key question surrounding
the violence and turmoil in that nation: Who is responsible for funding and
arming the FARC? The answer is the United States government. By insisting
on zero-tolerance prohibition as the only solution to this nation's drug
problem, we ensure that the illegal drug trade funnels billions of dollars
a year out of our economy and into the hands of revolutionaries and
terrorists around the world.

If we were really serious about ending the violence in Colombia, we would
regulate the illegal drug trade to allow addicts to purchase their
substance of choice from doctors and pharmacists, rather than pushers. With
the black market out of business, we not only reduce the number of new
addicts here in the U.S., we cut the flow of money to the sources of
instability in South America.

Ending drug prohibition and replacing it with a regulated market is a
win-win for everyone.

Arthur Cole

Hope Valley, R.I.