Pubdate: Wed, 04 Oct 2006 Source: Brownsville Herald, The (TX) Copyright: 2006 The Brownsville Herald Contact: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/contact.php Website: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1402 Author: Ruben S. Garcia III Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) TIME TO RETHINK U.S. DRUG POLICY We see the horrors of the U.S. drug policy everyday here in the Valley. I had never heard that there was a group of law enforcement officers who felt the same way. This country's war on drugs has created a permanent caste of second-class citizens, costs billions of dollars every year, incarcerates minorities at higher levels, and apparently does no good. Drugs are still available on every street corner, in every city of this great nation. It is time to promote and demand a logical drug policy of legalization and regulation that will take the drugs out of the thugs' hands, and stop sending billions of dollars in profits to drug lords in South America. Ruben S. Garcia III Brownsville Via the Internet - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman