U.S. WAR ON DRUGS DISTRACTS FROM OTHER ISSUES

This is in regards to the story, "Authorities Say I-90 Becoming West-
To-East Drug Corridor." (Press & Dakotan, Feb. 4)

Aided in no small measure by uncritical news stories such as this, our
governments continue to oversee a brutal drug war pogrom designed to
distract our attention from more important issues (and to provide bigger
budgets for our police officers) by ruining the lives of the innocent few
who ingest or sell certain drugs.

And please, don't insult my intelligence by insisting the drug war is there
to protect users from harmful drugs. First, banning a drug harms users
(adulterated drugs and jail time) and non-users (murder and mayhem on our
streets) much more than if the drug were freely and legally available. And
second, if that were the reason, why didn't we ban alcohol and tobacco, too?

Hitler's armies may have lost the war but his ideas seem to have found
ready acceptance in the Land of the Free.

Alan Randell,
Victoria, B.C., Canada