Pubdate: Wed, 24 May 2000 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News Contact: (408) 271-3792 Address: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: J. M. Berry DRUG WAR ALTERNATIVES MARTIN Kavanagh (Letters, May 19) takes us up to the plate, but there's no pitch. Which faithful reader of a newspaper thinks the drug war is anything but a waste of money? But what are the alternatives? Counseling is not going to stop addiction for many. Putting the war under the auspices of a Department of Health and Human Services and calling addiction a health problem might be a start, but it's only a start. Selective legalization might defuse part of the problem, but certainly won't do anything for hard-core addictions. The only thing that's going to stop the ``pharmacological McCarthyism'' is when enough people realize the real cost of the drug war is destruction of our families, neighborhoods, workplaces and schools. Your newspaper could open the debate with a series of articles on alternatives to the drug war. It's time. J. M. Berry, Campbell - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk