FLAWED WAR ON DRUGS IS UNSUSTAINABLE

Dear Editor,

The war on drugs is unsustainable and the state's budget woes are the
proof. Feel-good drug laws that fuel expensive prison growth are eating us
out of house and home. We can no longer afford the luxury of rounding up
minorities from urban centers and warehousing them in downstate prisons in
the name of fighting the war on drugs.

Treatment for drug abuse, maintenance programs for opiate addiction and
cannabis decriminalization would be much less expensive and much more
effective approaches to drug policy. These pragmatic measures have reduced
crime, addiction and government budgets everywhere they've been adopted.
Reduce the harm associated with drug use and you reduce the social and
fiscal costs as well.

We should grant early release to non-violent drug offenders as an emergency
budgetary measure and then begin the long journey toward a more enlightened
and affordable drug policy.

Larry Stevens

Springfield