Pubdate: Mon, 03 Feb 1997 Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA) Author: Thomas J. O'Connell M.D. Alex MacDonald offers the unusual perspective of a literate observer whose job in a Tenderloin hotel has provided him an intimate vantage point from which to observe unfortunate denizens of our drug culture over a 10-year interval. The adjective "clueless" could be applied most appropriately to the federal government for its insistence that criminal prohibition is the only possible approach to drug problems. "Clueless' also fits MacDonald for implicitly agreeing. THOMAS J. O'CONNELL San Mateo