Changing U.S. Drug Policy

I was heartened to read your editorial on federal drug policy. It is good sentiment, but too timid. What the U.S. really needs is a government policy that declares drug use a medical problem and takes the tack the British have. By identifying true addicts and providing cheap, pure drugs, they are seeing results.

Our Calvinist approach will never stop the building of a new criminal class as occurred under the Volstead Act, nor the dollar hemorrhage from crime, interdiction and prison construction; nor will it cure addiction or make the cartels go away.

RICHARD M. LIENAU

Los Angeles