Prop. 36’s Effect on Drug Stings

* Re “Officials Fear Effect of Drug Law on Stings,” Jan. 1: I managed the Yes on 36 campaign. Much of the bellyaching by narcotics officers about Prop. 36 seems misplaced. The purpose of so-called “reverse stings,” where cops pose as drug dealers to arrest users, is just as much to clean up neighborhoods as it is to put users in jail. Even if users will now get treatment, not jail, the stings can still help in drug-affected areas.

One prosecutor complains that cops don’t measure performance “by the number of people they send to rehab.” Maybe they should adopt a new bottom line, since the voters have now demanded it. Besides, for many, treatment will prove to be more effective than jail time in keeping individual users from having a reason to go anywhere seeking illegal drugs.

DAVE FRATELLO

Campaign for New Drug Policies

Santa Monica

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There are two salient facts your article overlooked:

Most of these “sting” operations you refer to are thinly disguised entrapments, to which the district attorneys and the judges give a “wink and a nod.” (I refer you to your own articles on the Rampart scandal.) These criminals are created by society itself, by turning a victimless crime into a crime and by not allowing the same freedom accorded alcohol and tobacco, which are fully as addictive as the proscribed drugs.

It would be a shame if the police were required to actually pursue real criminals and build real cases, wouldn’t it?

GEORGE L. LIDDLE SR.

Sun City