DON'T JAIL DRUG OFFENDERS

Susan L. Hiltz, executive director of Prevention Coalition of
Southeast Michigan, disagrees with Nolan Finley's endorsement of a
fresh look at drug legalization ("Don't let out-of-staters legalize
drugs," Feb. 24).

She states that "out-of-state multimillionaires" are financing this
re-evaluation of our criminal treatment of drug users. It is hard to
believe such sentiments do not exist in Michigan, as well as in all
of the United States.

Regardless of the above, Hiltz espouses the very points that Trio's
ballot measure recognizes in her closing paragraph: "The answers lie
in education, prevention, coupled with treatment and accompanied by
research. The answers do not lie in drug legalization." We only want
to change her last sentence to: The answers do not lie in prison
sentences for drug users, who have committed no other crime.

Why send someone to prison for a frailty he or she is not able to
overcome, without family and professional assistance?

Tony Amadori,
Livonia