NICARAGUAN AID Copyright (c) 1997, Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times March 10, 1997 Metro; Part B; Page 4; Letters Desk Contact Info for Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles Times,Times Mirror Square,Los Angeles, CA LOS ANGELES TIMES LOS ANGELES CA 12132374712; Re "U.S. to Aid Nicaragua's AntiDrug Efforts," March 5: Reading this article does much to explain why America's war on drugs continues to poison and distort our relationships with much of Latin America. The secondpoorest nation in Latin America, Nicaragua, doesn't need gunboats, helicopters and trained soldiers. It needs the kind of economic development that helps people feed themselves and increase their standard of living. Until we take necessary steps to take the obscene profits out of drug trafficking, drugs from Mexico, Nicaragua and elsewhere will keep coming. GERALD M. SUTLIFF Walnut Creek, Calif.