Pubdate: Sat, 23 Dec 2000 Date: 12/23/2000 Source: Plain Dealer, The (OH) Author: Robert Sharpe Regarding the Dec. 10 article on U.S. funding of Colombia's drug war: Plan Colombia could very well spread both civil war and coca production throughout the region. Communist guerrilla movements do not originate in a vacuum. U.S. tax dollars would be better spent addressing the underlying causes of civil strife rather than applying military force to attack the symptoms. Forcing Colombia's guerrillas to the bargaining table at gunpoint will not remedy Colombia's societal inequities. We're not doing the Colombian people any favors by funding civil war. Nor are we protecting Americans from drugs. Cut off the flow of cocaine and domestic methamphetamine production will boom to meet the demand for cocaine-like drugs. Rather than waste resources attempting to overcome immutable laws of supply and demand, policymakers should look to the lessons learned from America's disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition. The drug war finances organized crime while failing miserably at preventing use. With organized crime comes corruption, and the United States is not immune. The former commander of U.S. anti-drug operations in Colombia was found guilty of laundering the profits of his wife's heroin-smuggling operation. Entire countries have been destabilized because of the corrupting influence of organized-crime groups that profit from the illegal drug trade. Drug laws fuel crime and corruption, which is then used to justify increased drug-war spending. It's time to end this madness and start treating all substance abuse - legal or otherwise - as the public-health problem it is. ROBERT SHARPE, Washington, D.C. Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation