Pubdate: Sat, 12 May 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Section: Editorial/Op-Ed
Authors: Kevin Hebert, Robert Sharpe

NEW DRUG CZAR, OLD PROBLEM

To the Editor:

Re "Bush Names a Drug Czar and Addresses Criticism" (news article, May 11):

While President Bush pays lip service to treatment and prevention, it is 
clear that his main drug strategy will be to continue to punish harshly 
anyone who uses substances made illegal by the government.

This strategy is doomed to fail. It has failed miserably in the last 30 
years, helping virtually no one except those involved in the building and 
maintenance of prisons.

When will we learn that we cannot incarcerate ourselves out of this 
problem? All we will end up with is more prisoners, more broken families, 
fewer rights and, perversely, a worse drug problem.

KEVIN M. HEBERT

Amherst, Mass., May 11, 2001

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To the Editor:

Re "Worrisome Signals on Drugs" (editorial, May 9):

With William J. Bennett, the former federal drug czar, John P. Walters, 
President Bush's choice to be drug czar, acted to create consequences for 
marijuana smokers during the first President Bush's administration.

Yet anyone who has used both alcohol and marijuana knows that alcohol is 
the far more dangerous drug.

Illegal drug use is the only public health problem where those directly 
affected are not merely ignored but persecuted and incarcerated.

If health outcomes determined drug laws, marijuana would be legal. The 
intergenerational culture war otherwise known as the drug war poses a far 
greater societal threat than marijuana.

ROBERT SHARPE

Washington, May 9, 2001
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart