We tend to forget as a country that our longest and most costly war has been the war on drugs. Many people believe that this is a long-failing battle, and I tend to agree.

This year, drug arrests are expected to exceed 1.8 million people, and law enforcement made more arrests for drug abuse violations than any other crime in the past two years.

In May, the head of the National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, said that he wanted to eliminate the idea of a "war on drugs" and instead focus on treatment as opposed to incarceration in order to reduce the drug problem.

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To the Editor:

Re "Why Harlem Drug Cops Don't Discuss Race" ("How Race Is Lived in America," front page, July 9):

You report the pressure that police officers experience from their superiors to make drug arrests. This has resulted in rampant violations of the rights of African-Americans and Hispanics. It was unlawful for police in the article to detain and search men who stood on the street near an apartment where drugs were found, since the men had no connection to the drugs or the apartment.

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