Pubdate: Thu, 03 May 2001 Source: Fayetteville Observer-Times (NC) Copyright: 2001 Fayetteville Observer-Times Contact: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/foto/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150 Author: Jane Marcus BILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS ARE WASTED ON PRISONS When college basketball star Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose in 1986, his senseless death marked the beginning of the "War on Drugs." Now, in remembrance of young Charity Bowers, we can make her senseless death in Peru mark the end of a policy that contradicts the very spirit of her name. We should demand that our government stop defining drug abuse as a crime to be fought with police, military, and "collateral damage" and insist that it start defining drug abuse as an illness to be addressed by medical and public health professionals. In the name of Charity, we should spend the billions of tax dollars wasted on prisons and ineffective interdiction on more cost-effective and compassionate treatment and rehabilitation. The deeply religious families of Charity and her mother, Veronica, believe that God's reason for taking their loved ones will one day become clear to them. If people of good will open their hearts and speak their minds, a reason for these tragic deaths may become clear to us all. Jane Marcus Palo Alto, Calif. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager