DON'T END DRUG WAR QUIETLY

Cynthia Tucker says it's a "good time for Congress to quietly end the war
on drugs" (Other Opinions, June 22).

No. Don't let them quietly end the war. If the war is not the very best
possible approach to the problem, then let them all hang for all the misery
inflicted on citizens of this country and of the world.

I don't know what the best approach is to the drug problem. I don't know
that the Constitution gives the government officials the authority to do
what they're doing. But after all these years of drug war, there has to be
some better way.

Legislators must be positive that they have the best approach. They must be
so sure of their position that they should be willing to enact further
legislation to punish themselves if it is ever demonstrated that the
approach they are responsible for is not better than the opposite or if
their laws exceed the powers given by the Constitution.

But don't let them quietly back out of it.

Make them be responsible for either the glory or the shame.

Warren Hart

New Orleans