WHEN WILL CONGRESS CONCEDE THE WAR ON DRUGS?

Regarding Elizabeth Sullivan's thoughtful March 3 column on Colombia's
civil war: The U.S.-funded Plan Colombia could very well spread both coca
production and civil war throughout South America. Communist guerrilla
movements do not originate in a vacuum. 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 financing 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 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.

By Robert Sharpe

Washington, D.C.

Sharpe is program officer for the Drug Policy Alliance.