Pubdate: Thu, 28 Mar 2002
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2002 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Robert Sharpe
Other LTEs by Robert Sharpe: http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Robert+Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n559/a03.html

FIGHT DRUG WAR HERE

Re your Mar. 20 editorial Aide for Colombia: Plan Colombia could very 
well spread both coca production and civil war throughout South 
America. U.S. tax dollars would be better spent addressing the 
socioeconomic causes of civil strife rather than applying 
overwhelming military force to attack the symptoms.

We're not doing the Colombian people any favors by funding civil war. 
Nor are Americans being protected from drugs.

Destroy the Colombian coca crop, and production will boom in Peru, 
Bolivia, and Ecuador. Destroy every last plant in South America, and 
domestic methamphetamine production will increase to meet the demand 
for cocaine-like drugs.

The champions of the free market in Congress seem incapable of 
applying basic economic principles to drug policy. Instead of wasting 
scarce resources waging a futile supply-side war abroad, we should be 
funding cost-effective drug treatment here at home.

ROBERT SHARPE Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington, D.C.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Josh