Pubdate: Sun, 07 Jul 2002 Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX) Copyright: 2002 San Antonio Express-News Contact: http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384 Author: Drew M. Loewe FACE IT: DRUG WAR A FLOP Kudos to columnist Jan Jarboe Russell for telling it like it is ("America's drug czar and latest strategy are 'highly' deluded," June 30). It's time Washington woke up to the fact that addressing the nation's drug problem as a moral or criminal issue is misguided and hopeless. Drug abuse is a social and medical problem that all the righteous indignation of John P. Walters or other politicians will never cure. Hundreds of thousands of arrests and incarcerations financed by tax dollars have only increased the value of drugs and provided more incentive to drug lords to increase their market share - by any means necessary. Drug interdiction only distracts law enforcement from stopping real crimes, such as the terrorism Walters now seeks to gain from politically. Drew M. Loewe - --- MAP posted-by: Derek