Pubdate: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL) Copyright: 1999 Orlando Sentinel Contact: 633 N.Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32801 Website: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ Forum: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/interact/messageboards/ Author: George Hook RUINED LIVES To the editor: A recent editorial opposing a proposed Orange County ordinance that would impound cars found to contain even small amounts of marijuana asked whether we should risk ruining people's lives over drugs? Quite honestly, this is what the drug war is about: ruining people's lives. It isn't enough that drug abuse itself can ruin a person's life. The zealots (led by politicians and the law-enforcement community) have fed us reams of anti-drug propaganda since the Nixon administration and are so frustrated at their abysmal failure to stop Americans from taking illegal drugs that their goal today actually is to ruin the lives of everyone caught with drugs -- even such a minuscule amount as one joint. Take their cars! Keep them from sports! Don't let them get a decent job! Just lock 'em up and throw away the key! Why else are the prisons today packed with drug convictions? Why else would the politicians cry out for automobile or property seizures? Or, for random drug tests of employees or high-school students? This war on drugs is a mindless social policy meant to ruin the lives of unfortunate Americans who need care more than incarceration. GEORGE HOOK Altamonte Springs - --- MAP posted-by: manemez j lovitto