Reform drug laws.

• Author: McGee, Bob
• Position: Letters to the Editor - Letter to the Editor

In your August issue, David Silverberg described the efforts of a former Michigan police officer, Howard Woolridge, in combating our current drug policy ("Arresting the Drug Laws"). I fear the former officer is swimming upstream. Actually, our drug policy is a whopping success.

It can only be considered a failure if one assumes its purpose is a reduction in the use of narcotics or improvement in the lives of millions of Americans. Sorry. Its real purpose is the maintenance of a large flow of dollars into our economy that do not have to be accounted for. At an estimated $700 billion, the illegal drug business is bigger than our $600 billion pharmaceutical business. What odds would you give anyone attacking the pharmaceutical industry?

Bob McGee

Placerville, California

Thanks for the article about LEAP and Howard...