Pubdate: [Fri, 01 Mar 1996]
Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX)
Author: Michelle Smiley

I am responding to your editorial regarding the War on Drugs and the drug
czar, Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey. Although points of his views on
eliminating the war on drugs are debatable, I applaud you for bringing this
topic to your readers.

It is extremely encouraging to know that there are still people in this
country who believe in facing, exposing and discussing what I believe to be
the single main problem in our country today, the War on Drugs.

We spend $50 billion per year on trying to eradicate drugs from this
country. According to Drug Enforcement Agency estimates, we capture less
than 10 percent of all illicit drugs. Let me pose two questions:

(1) How much do you think it will cost to stop the other 90 percent?

(2) Does $50 billion a year for a 90 percent failure rate seem like a good
investment to you?

Maybe these questions should be posed to some political figures who seem to
just keep giving us numbers, but no answers. Does McCaffrey have the answer?

Michelle Smiley,
Carrollton