PLAN COLOMBIA WON'T WORK

To the editor:

Your March 15 editorial was right on target ("Colombia just says no?").
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 self-professed champions of the free market in
Congress are seemingly 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,
Drug Policy Alliance,
Washington, D.C.

PROHIBITION IS THE PROBLEM

To the editor:

I am writing about your thoughtful editorial, "Colombia just says no?"
March 15. Your editorial was right on the mark, especially when you said,
"The best bet would be to end U. S. intervention and end the war on drugs."
When Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine and sold for 5 cents a
bottle, drug dealers as we know them today didn't exist, and there was no
such thing as "drug-related" crime. When heroin was legally sold in local
U. S. pharmacies for about the same price as aspirin, drug lords and drug
cartels didn't exist either. When pure pharmaceutical-grade heroin was
legally available in local U. S. pharmacies, drug deaths were very rare.

Drugs are not our problem; drug prohibition is our problem. America's drug
problems are not caused by Colombia or anyone else.

As long as Americans want recreational drugs and we are willing to pay a
very substantial price for them, somebody from somewhere will supply them.
Guaranteed.

Kirk Muse,
Mesa, Ariz.