ABANDONING DRUG PROHIBITION THE LOGICAL COURSE FOR AMERICA

Last Monday's Opinion article "Alter drug policy to cut off terrorists" was
an illustration of pure logic seen all too seldom in the debate over ways
to solve America's drug dilemma. Many experts (not politicians and
religious groups) agree that what we are now spending is wasted money,
which could be put to use on more education and treatment programs, keeping
users off the streets and, most important, keeping them from committing
crimes to support their habits.

The writer, Robert Sharpe, mentions that England tried from 1920 to the
1960s the practice of a controlled-substance distribution system, but, due
to pressure from the United States, the subsequent creation of an
unregulated illicit market resulted in the numbers of heroin addicts to
skyrocket from fewer than 2,000 in 1970 to roughly 50,000 today. He also
mentions that Swiss policy-makers argue that taking marijuana out of
organized crime will reduce exposure to heroin and other hard drugs.

Not the least of our dilemma is that terrorist groups are largely supported
by the poppy fields in Afghanistan. Instead of bombing the caves, how about
hitting the source of their drug trafficking? The author, Robert Sharpe, is
a program officer with the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, a
nonprofit organization. This surely says that his views are worth listening
to . . . and, better still, seriously considering.

ELLA TELLIARD, Jupiter