'SUPER' ADS WASTED ANTI-DRUG MONEY

I'm disappointed that $3.2 million was spent on misguided, anti-drug ads
aired during the Super Bowl, while important drug treatment and
rehabilitation programs remain under funded.

I understand that addictive drugs are destroying lives and families in
America every day. It is also true that drug sales generate profits for
overseas cartels and terrorists often sell drugs to finance violence.

However, it makes no sense for the government to buy the most expensive
airtime there is for spots that seem designed mainly to link the popular
war on terrorism with the unpopular war on drugs.

Only a third of federal anti-drug money is earmarked for prevention and
treatment programs a " even though waiting lists for treatment programs are
so long as to be cruel. Yet from these limited funds the administration
spent $3.2 million to air two 30-second commercials.

By almost any measure, the U.S. war on drugs continues to be an abject
failure, and the reasons are pretty simple: The profits from the illegal
sale of drugs are so large that drug cartels can overwhelm the billions of
dollars spent on seizing drugs and counter-narcotics operations overseas.

The White House's Super Bowl ads represent the continuation of a failed
policy that does not serve our kids, fight terrorists or help to liberate
those living under the scourge of governments corrupted by drug money.

Stop the ad campaign and reallocate the money to proven treatment programs.

Michael Cappello

Milford