BACK TO REALITY

Our prisons are filled to overflowing with drug addicts. Young girls
become prostitutes to support their drug habits. Crimes are committed
to afford the high cost of illegal drugs. Mothers are incarcerated,
sometimes for being involved with a drug-dealing man, and children are
deprived of parents.

Meantime, movies and celebrities glamorize drug usage. Even our
political leaders have admitted to, or have been reported, using drugs.

Using mind-altering drugs is nothing new. In this country, cocaine,
heroin and morphine were legal until around the 1930s.

Of course, much thought and planning will have to be done to make the
transition from our present failed drug laws to a more-sensible
approach, but the time to end the war on drugs is past due.

Ellen Hansen, Auburn