LESS DRUG WAR IS A GOOD THING

Re: the March 23 column "With U.S. focused on Iraq, drug war
ebbs."

A cut in U.S. drug war funding for Latin America is not necessarily a
bad thing. Destroy the Colombian coca crop and production will boom in
Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Destroy every last plant in South America
and domestic methamphetamine production will increase to meet the
demand for cocaine-like drugs.

The self-professed champions of the free market in Congress are
seemingly incapable of applying basic economic principles to drug
policy. Instead of waging a futile supply-side drug war abroad, we
should be funding cost-effective drug treatment here at home.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.