Pubdate: Thu, 23 Nov 2000 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company Contact: 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 Fax: (212) 556-3622 Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/ Author: Stephen Young Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1714/a07.html Note: This LTE is a result of DrugSense FOCUS Alert #190 - Even Supporters See Disaster in Plan Colombia http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0186.html A FAULTY COLOMBIA PLAN To the Editor: Re "Key House Leader Withdraws Support for Colombia Aid Plan" (news article, Nov. 17): It has long been clear that Plan Colombia, the $7.5 billion strategy drafted jointly by American and Colombian officials and passed by Congress, will neither stop drugs from reaching Americans nor stabilize Colombia. But new objections from Representative Benjamin A. Gilman, formerly one of the plan's strongest supporters, show how awful the plan truly is. Mr. Gilman may have problems only with the details, but as history shows, the whole concept of fighting drugs with force is always a failure. The outcome of Plan Colombia can only be more violence and increasing involvement by the United States in the affairs of South America. STEPHEN YOUNG Roselle, Ill., Nov. 18, 2000 - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake