U.S. NEEDS NEW APPROACH IN DRUG WAR

Thanks to The Detroit News for publishing Robert Sharpe's outstanding
op-ed, "Follow European model on drug reform," Jan. 6.

To be successful in any endeavor, we should do what successful people do
and avoid doing what unsuccessful people do. This principle applies not
only to individuals, but to organizations and nations as well.

No other nation on the planet has been less successful than the United
States in solving its recreational drug problems. Yet no other nation
spends more of its resources or imprisons more of its citizens for drug law
violations than the United States.

Obviously, America's drug strategy is not working. Obviously, we must make
major changes in our drug policy or face continued failure.

Kirk Muse, Vancouver, Wash.