DRUGS CAUSE DEVASTATION

In his April 1 letter, Clifford A. Schaffer pontificated: "I have
found that, invariably, people who make such a suggestion don't even
know enough about the subject to answer the first question, let alone
the second." I have had 27 years of experience working with
alcoholics and drug addicts in a rehab environment. From that
experience, I have drawn several conclusions:

The addicts, untreated, will wind up so mentally debilitated that
they cannot function well enough to sustain themselves. They must be
supported in their habits by family members or friends, or else they
rob, steal, murder and/or die.

Official government reports estimate 50 percent of all incarcerations
are drug-related.

Corruption in our judicial system is rampant because of the high
bribes the dealers can afford.

Some large banks have special, off-the-books employees who solicit
dealers to launder their money and facilitate short-term loans on
phony collateral. (This was testified to before the congressional
hearings concerning Noriega's role in drug trafficking.)

These dealers butter some of the most famous lawyers' bread, and they
would hate to see an end.

A person who has had his mind destroyed is more a victim than a
person who has had his throat cut or a bullet through his brain, for
they truly are the walking dead.

ARTHUR S. LYON

Totera Place