Pubdate: Sun, 12 Jun 2011 Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) Copyright: 2011 PG Publishing Co., Inc. Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/pm4R4dI4 Website: http://www.post-gazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/341 Author: Chuck Premick Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n372/a07.html CAN'T JUST QUIT I reread Tony Norman's June 7 column (" 'The Wire' Showed the Fallacy of Drug War") and don't know whether to be confused or angered. If he is stating that the war on drugs is not a success, I cannot disagree. If he is stating that HBO's fictional series should be used as the basis to abandon the current legal system (flawed as it may be), I'm astounded. It's a fictional series. Using actors from this series to sit on a Justice Department panel and taking their comments seriously is ludicrous. Using citizens, law enforcement and judicial officials who have been involved in drug cases to discuss the system's problems would seem to be a better use of our money. Placing drug users/abusers/low-level dealers in jail may not be helping them solve their problems or ease their addictions. But in the past year (on multiple occasions and with different children), I've seen "close up" how parents' drug use affects the lives of their children. The effects are unnerving. Would I like to see better programs to get drug users back into the mainstream? Absolutely. But to just abandon our current system and wait until we come up with a better solution (based on an international commission headed by a group that probably lives in mostly sheltered neighborhoods) is not an option. CHUCK PREMICK Hampton - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.