COLOMBIA PROVIDES DRUG ABUSE LESSON

On Sept. 11, Secretary of State Colin Powell canceled conferences with
Colombian President Pastrana in regard to our $1.3 billion funding plan. The
biggest concern was over the Switzerland-size demilitarized zone that
Pastrana ceded to the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) three years ago to
encourage peace talks. This zone has served as a training ground for FARC's
30,000 troops, a place for growing coca plants, a prison for kidnap victims
and a bomb college.

Kidnapped with 10 other people by FARC, the body of former Culture Minister
Consuelo Arajjo has now been found. She was the wife of Edgardo Maya,
Columbia's inspector-general in charge of investigating government
officials.

More than 3,000 Colombians are killed every year in their 37-year-old war
with FARC.

Our war with terrorists is closely linked to the war against addiction.

Over two-thirds of the clients at Foothill AIDS Project in Claremont were
exposed to the virus while under the influence of alcohol, other drugs or
both.

Our VIPs, parents, schools, and churches need to pledge to just say no to
alcohol, the mother of all substance abuse.

Robert Cooper, Upland