U.S. SHOULD KEEP FIGHTING WAR ON DRUGS

Cynthia Tucker's recent column (Star-Bulletin, June 28) asserting that the
federal anti-drug effort is a costly failure is refuted by the facts.
Anti-drug efforts of the 1980s and '90s have produced remarkable results.

In 1979, there were 25.4 million drug users in America. In 2000, this number
had dropped to 14 million, a 45 percent decrease. Cocaine use in America
declined from 4.7 million users in 1979 to 1.2 million users in 2000.
Adolescent drug use in 2000 was almost half the level of 1979 (2.2 million
youth, compared with 4.1 million). These numbers are still too high, but
they show steady and significant progress.

Throughout most of our history, drug use has been confined to a small,
deviant subculture. In the mid-1960s, the recreational use of drugs,
particularly marijuana and hallucinogens, exploded into mainstream American
culture. In the 1970s, there was a troubling outbreak of cocaine use in
America. The drug epidemic in the United States peaked in the late 1970s and
has declined sharply in the 1980s and '90s in response to community efforts
and government-supported prevention, treatment and enforcement programs. The
war on drugs can be won and should be supported by us all.

Ray Gagner

Kailua