Money Laundering and War on Drugs

I read with dismay the assertion of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (letter, June 28) that (Colombian drug kingpin) Pablo Escobar is the “most dangerous enemy of U.S. public health.” While I believe that drug-running is government sponsored, I will never believe that illegal drugs are much of a danger to public health. Anyone who participates does so of his own volition. Do Marquez and our government seriously believe that America’s infant mortality rate, alcohol-related deaths, smoking-related deaths and disabilities are less of a problem? Virtually no one has died of marijuana use and fewer than a thousand die annually from cocaine use. This is not the case for alcohol and tobacco.

If people want to believe that they are saving their fellow citizens from themselves, then why do our children go hungry and homeless? At a cost of something like $40,000 a year per person we incarcerate our brothers and sisters for using and selling drugs. In the meantime, violent criminals are released from prison due to overcrowding. The drug war remains a smoke screen for racism and a diversion from the real truth.

CHRISTINE L. THOMPSON

Seal Beach