Responses To Last Week's Question:

IS A "ONE-STRIKE" POLICY FAIR FOR PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS?

In the U.S. Supreme Court's most recent evisceration of the U.S.
Constitution, justices ruled that elderly folk can be kicked out of public
housing if grandchildren living with them are involved with drugs.

The principal argument put forward by those who applaud the decision is
this: Public-housing residents are particularly troubled by the crime and
violence associated with drugs, so any and all measures that will reduce
these ill effects are therefore justified.

If I were a Las Vegas bookmaker, I'd offer these optimists a bet at
irresistible odds: 100-to-1 that drug arrests and overdoses, as well as
violence in public-housing projects, are not going to decline significantly
over the next two years, despite the now-absolute power of housing
authorities to evict the family members of druggies.

Bet a hundred bucks and win $10,000, if you really think evicting
grandparents is going to help the drug problem in the projects. Put your
money where your mouth is, I'd say.

I wonder whether I'd get any takers. Is anyone really that stupid?

This Supreme Court is a disgrace to our cherished American ideals. It's the
court's job to protect the Constitution, not to whittle away at it in the
name of pointless political expediency.

The court has sanctioned an obvious injustice in order to facilitate an
impossible goal -- the very definiton of immoral madness.

Ray Aldridge, Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

EQUAL UNDER THE LAW? NOT WITH HUD EVICTION RULE

Thank you for your fine March 28 editorial headlined "Scales of justice."

This was a misguided Supreme Court decision on the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development's racist eviction policy, which allows
eviction from public housing for any drug crime commited by a tenant,
household member or guest -- whether the incident occurred on or off the
property and whether or not the perpetrator was under the primary
resident's control.

If a teen-ager makes a mistake, smokes some pot somewhere and gets caught,
his or her family can be evicted from public housing.

If a friend of a friend of the child brings drugs into the complex (unknown
to the resident), the tenant is liable to be evicted.

The federal housing regulation is racist because enforcement of drug laws
is racist, through racial profiling by police. Minorities are arrested at a
far greater rate than whites, and minority arrests are disproportionate to
their numbers within the community.

Racial profiling guarantees that minorities will be evicted from public
housing at a greater rate than whites. After they're evicted, there still
will be drug dealing, but with white dealers.

Please note also that the HUD policy doesn't apply to publicly housed
politicians whose children get caught breaking drug laws.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will not lose his government housing even though his
daughter was arrested for a drug-law violation and has been at the
governor's residence.

This is another double standard in the drug war. Only the poor go to prison
or lose their housing because of drug violations.

We're supposed to have equal protection under our Constitution, but only
drug crimes result in eviction. You could be a robber, rapist, murderer or
pedophile and still keep your housing. Only the drug user gets evicted.

That's not equal protection.

Kim Hanna, Worcester, Mass.

MORE COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN FAILED U.S. DRUG WAR

Your March 28 editorial headlined "Scales of justice," about the
"one-strike-and-out" policy of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, was right on target.

HUD's zero-tolerance policy requires that entire families be evicted from
public housing if anyone, even a guest, uses drugs. The indiscretions of a
rebellious teen-ager could result in homelessness for an entire family.

According to the Monitoring the Future Survey, more than half of all
high-school seniors have tried an illegal drug at least once.

Exposing 50 percent of all families living in public housing to the dangers
of living on the street is not the answer to America's drug problem.

Most teen-agers outgrow their youthful indiscretions involving drugs. An
arrest and criminal record, on the other hand, can be life-shattering.

Zero-tolerance has done little other than create a massive
prison-industrial complex. Based on findings that criminal records do more
harm than marijuana, a majority of European Union countries has
decriminalized pot.

Despite harsh penalties and perhaps because of the "forbidden fruit"
appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than in
any European country.

The failed drug war threatens the integrity of a country founded on the
concept of limited government.

The alleged "Land of the Free" now has the highest incarceration rate among
the world's developed nations. It's simply not possible to wage a
moralistic war against consensual vices unless privacy is completely
eliminated, along with the U.S. Constitution. America can be either a free
country or a "drug-free" country, but not both.

Robert Sharpe, Program officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.

NO WONDER SO MANY PRISONS HAVE BEEN BUILT

Your March 28 editorial headlined "Scales of justice" exposed the reality
behind "one-strike-and-out" public-housing policy: "Demand for the
affordable housing is so high that housing authorities have no reason to
tolerate tenants who abuse the privilege."

If demand is so high, why aren't we building more public housing?

Answer: Because we're building prisons instead.

And where do you think so many who get tossed out of public housing are
going to end up?

Ray Carlson, Redwood City, Calif.

WHILE WE'RE AT IT, LET'S EVICT A FEW POLITICIANS

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that innocent public-housing tenants can
be evicted if their guests or family members are caught with illegal drugs.
The court majority believes that drugs lead to murder, muggings and other
forms of violence against tenants.

It doesn't occur to the justices that drug markets are actually quite
peaceful in the absence of prohibition, judging from convenience stores and
supermarkets that sell all kinds of regulated drugs.

It's become a mania among our leaders to cook up destructive drug policies
and then blame the resulting destruction on the drugs themselves. I suppose
now they'll say drugs cause public housing evictions, too.

Too bad this ruling doesn't apply to other forms of public housing, such as
the White House and the Florida governor's mansion.

Larry A. Stevens, Springfield, Ill.