DECRIMINALIZE DRUG LAWS

Department of Corrections director Bill Martin's response to Nolan Finley's
support for a proposal to amend Michigan's Constitution and begin moving
people with drug problems from the criminal justice to the health care
system is at best confused, and at worst disingenuous and self-serving
("Michigan prisons not filled with drug offenders," Jan. 30).

If Martin truly believes his own assertion about Michigan's prison
population that "the number serving for simple possession is negligible,"
why object to the proposal? If he is correct, it would have no impact.

The fact is that Prohibition II has been no more effective than Prohibition
I. But it has been just as costly and dangerous. Attempting to redefine
vices as crimes is not only futile, but it subverts our Constitution,
enriches organized crime, clogs the criminal justice system (not just the
prisons), costs the taxpayers a fortune and does nothing for the pathetic
addict but add legal problems to his or her existing medical problems.

TIM O'BRIEN Chair, Prison Priorities Project Allen Park