Pubdate: Thu, 01 Feb 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
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Section: Opinion: Letters to the Editor
Author: Emmett Barcalow

COLOMBIA, DRUGS AND US

To the Editor:

Re "No Crops Spared in Colombia's Coca War" (front page, Jan. 31):

How many innocent people in Colombia will be made to suffer because some 
Americans crave illegal drugs?

Unless we learn that treatment must be the main strategy, we'll continue to 
destroy families and neighborhoods in our own country by jailing hundreds 
of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders, and destroy other countries, 
like Colombia, by enticing them to supply our demand for drugs and then 
forcing them to declare war on drugs.

EMMETT BARCALOW

Amherst, Mass., Jan. 31, 2001
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