NARCO-TERROR EDITORIAL A REMINDER OF FUTILE 'WAR'

The Dec. 24 editorial "New anti-terror front could be in Colombia,"
reminding us of the continuing narco-terrorism America suffers,
inflicted upon us by Colombian thugs, was timely. The damage, social
devastation and costs of eradicating drug trafficking to both the
Colombians and Americans is as atrocious as anything Al-Qaeda has sent
our way.

The reminder is timely because of the toll drugs have taken, the
enormous and continuing costs of only partially effective attempts to
intercept them on land and sea, and the corruption they cause. This
could be a description of the futile prohibition of alcohol in the
1920s. Common sense and necessity dictates that we legalize and
control the use of drugs as we were forced to do with alcohol. Now
would be an appropriate time to do so. We surely have delayed this and
suffered long enough.

ERIC BRADBERY

Boca Raton