Addict’s Reunion With Her Children

“Getting It Together” (Dec.24) was a wonderful story of a mother’s victory over cocaine addiction and subsequent reuniting with two children.

However, one item bothered me. And it bothers me in most coverage of the drug problem. I refer to the mention of the mother’s “$700-a-day crack cocaine habit.” That comes to almost $5,000 a week, more $20,000 a month and more than a quarter of a million dollars a year. Just for drugs.

Where does a heavy-set, semiskilled mother of two come up with that kind of money? Is it an inheritance, a typographical error or are we being subjected to exaggerations reminiscent of Vietnam War body counts?

My questioning of the “War on Drugs” concerns the end users: Exactly who are they and where do they get all the money? So far the pieces aren’t fitting together.

JIM WOOD

Corona del Mar