Pubdate: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2008 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/info/letters/index.html Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n246/a05.html Author: Kirk Muse U.S. IS LOST Thanks for publishing Grace Ivey's thoughtful letter: Jail is not the answer (March 4). I'd like to add that if tough on crime and tough on drugs policies worked, the idealistic goal of a crime free and drug free America would have been reached a long time ago. It has not. Instead of providing health care for its citizens, the United States is the most incarcerated nation in the history of human civilization. About one out of every four prisoners in the world is locked in an American jail or prison, even though we have fewer than five per cent of the world's population. My advice to Canada and the rest of the world is to carefully observe U.S. drug and crime policies, then do the opposite. Don't follow us -- we're lost. Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek