HEAVY-HANDED DRUG POLICY NEEDS REVISION

Dear Editor,

I very much enjoyed reading your Feb. 7 editorial ("Barring Rebagliati
flies in face of justice"). Barring Canadian Olympic snowboarding gold
medalist Ross Rebagliati from visiting Salt Lake City because he once
admitted smoking pot is heavy-handed to say the least.

The United States, former land of the free and current record holder in
citizens incarcerated, could learn a lot from Canada's more tempered
approach to drugs.

Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda has long been a critic of U.S.
drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition. In a September 1999
Newsweek column, Castaneda asked, "What is the purpose of investing
hundreds of millions of dollars in the fight against drugs, plunging
countries into civil war, strengthening guerrilla groups and unleashing
enormous violence and corruption upon entire societies, if American leaders
can simply brush off questions about drug use in their youth?" Castaneda'
views may be influencing Mexican President Vincente Fox. Last March, Presi
dent Fox caused quite a stir by agreeing with a top Mexican police official
that regulation may be the only way to resolve the drug problem.

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.