Advancing the Battle Against Drugs in U.S.

I was pleased by the positive statistics quoted by Messrs. Gates and Hayde: Unfortunately, what they failed to emphasize was that these improvements were the result of education, not interdiction. Illegal drugs are just as available today as they were five, 10 or 15 years ago. The billions spent on “stopping the flow” has been successful in filling up the prison system, not in stopping the flow of drugs.

Another thing accomplished by the “War Zealots” is the enactment of a law that Adolf Hitler and his Gestapo would be proud of--the ability to seize a person’s private property without due process of law. The recent illegal “land grab” that backfired on the DEA, the sheriff’s departments of Ventura and Los Angeles counties and their judicial accomplice is a flashback on Nazi Germany. In my humble opinion, everyone involved in this tragic incident should be charged with first-degree murder under the RICO statute.

Conspicuous by its absence in both the article and the drawing was any specific reference to alcohol. As any experienced law enforcement officer can verify, alcohol is the primary drug involved in domestic violence and child abuse cases.

I’m not an advocate of criminalizing alcohol, this would be as foolish as ignoring the fact that we are not winning the “War on Drugs” except by the education and rehabilitation approach. I don’t feel that we will win as long as the potential for huge financial rewards are worth the risks to the “have-nots” of society.

More emphasis on education and rehabilitation along with taking the enormous profits out of the industry is worthy of serious consideration. In spite of the good intentions and the political correctness of the authors, we have won some battles, but we are not winning the war.

SUMNER M. BRADFORD

San Juan Capistrano