FIGHT DRUG WAR HERE

Re your Mar. 20 editorial Aide for Colombia: Plan Colombia could very
well spread both coca production and civil war throughout South
America. U.S. tax dollars would be better spent addressing the
socioeconomic causes of civil strife rather than applying
overwhelming military force to attack the symptoms.

We're not doing the Colombian people any favors by funding civil war.
Nor are Americans being protected from drugs.

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

ROBERT SHARPE Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington, D.C.