DRUGS AND THE FBI

To the Editor:

Now that the F.B.I. plans to reassign hundreds of agents from the war on
drugs to the war on terrorism (front page, May 30), isn't it time to
re-evaluate the former once again? The bureau's readiness to do so amounts
to an admission that our "war" on drugs will be no less futile without
those agents than it has been with them.

Decriminalizing the drug trade may not reduce the number of drug abusers,
but, like the repeal of Prohibition, it would help end the careers of
countless gangsters. It would also make available for the war on terror the
enormous national resources now squandered on pursuing drug traffickers,
jailing addicts and so on.

PHILIP WALKER

Santa Barbara, Calif., May 30, 2002

To the Editor:

I read with some consternation that the F.B.I. intends to reassign hundreds
of agents from the war on drugs to the war on terrorism (front page, May 30).

Surely, drugs are one of the most insidious problems that plague Western
societies. Furthermore, I wouldn't put it past these terrorists to use
drugs as a weapon. Wouldn't it be a better idea to deploy more people to
combat both forms of terror?

ARTHUR CHAN

Brooklyn, May 30, 2002