Drug Use in the U.S.

The two Feb. 23 Opinion articles, by Luis Rubio (“Is Mexico Becoming a Colombia?”) and by Michael A. Males (“Teenage Heroin Use? Real Drug Crisis Is Those Over 30”), are very informative. They bring up the statistics bearing on drug use and show that in spite of all the money spent on arresting dealers and on interdiction (in the billions of dollars) drugs are still available to those who want them.

We can blame Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Mexico, but the fact is that as long as there is a market for drugs and the profits are high, somebody will supply users. The only way to stop the production of drugs is to take the profit out of this activity.

JOSEPH B. LOPEZ

Montebello

I find it hard to believe that anyone is actually protesting the CIA (Feb. 18). Why bother? This organization has been doing whatever it wants for years. Besides which, isn’t it an individual choice to use drugs?

Why do Colombian citizens not come to protest in our inner-city neighborhoods (and, yes, even in suburbia)? After all, it is the demands our citizens make on Colombians for the mass production of cocaine. The drug warfare in Colombia makes our inner cities look like Disneyland. Only in America would people blame their own shortcomings on anyone but themselves. Quit whining and quit buying the damned drugs.

SUSANNE WHITTOCK

Thousand Oaks