Drug Hysteria

Cheers for Robert Scheer on “Reefer Madness: Feds Go Ballistic on Pot Measures” (Column Left, Nov. 19): Thank God someone has guts enough to tell it like it is. Ninety percent of the drug offenders in federal and state prisons have been sucked in by a system of drug laws, mandatory minimums and sentencing guidelines brought on by hysteria.

MERRILL SMITH, Chief (Ret.)

U.S. Probation System

Claremont