WE SHOULD LOOK WITHIN TO FIGHT DRUG WAR

Tough, swarthy punks from housing projects injected much fear into my
childhood on Denver's west side. They'd approach in packs, summarily accuse
you of dissing their sister, then smack you in the mouth, a total stranger.

This placid memory comes on the heels of the anti-drug zealots' latest
humdinger of disinformation, a silly, slipshod, no-brainer ad depicting
teen-agers as complicit cop and judge killers, as well as terrorist
financiers, via the legerdemain of casual use.

As in my opening vignette from the 'hood, both cases involve the
interposition of a causal nexus where none exists a priori so as to
facilitate the mayhem of a bully or extortionist, both government and
criminal to the extent that's not redundant. This is also kissing cousin to
the mentality that marginalized Jews into moneylending occupations over the
ages, then allowed Nazis and Bolsheviks to purge Semites for causing the
putative ravages of global capitalism.

Arrogant, hypertrophied government creates the monster with untenable laws,
and here's yet another nose-plugging extrapolation from this 70-year-old
witch hunt. If lawmakers are looking for the fountainhead of drug war
terrorism, the simple expedient of a hand mirror might help to clear things up.

KELLY PATRICK HENNESSY, Oceanside