Dear FRONTLINE,

I commend Frontline for having the courage to impartially report the facts regarding the "Drug Wars". I found the show very informative and credible.

I cannot believe the degree of devastation the enforcing of drug laws has had on our society. We have given up personal liberty and paid huge costs for law enforcement and incarceration. But most of all we have created a truly evil empire of drug corporations who have no regard for the law or human values. And for what; the money.

It's the money. There is so much of it, many good people succumb to its power. Remove the incredible amount of money and you remove the incentive.

How can that be done? It's been done before. Alcohol used to be an illegal drug. Once it was banned, profits became large enough to create truly hideous crime syndicates. People like Al Capone capitalized on the law.

Legalizing alcohol did not cause everyone to begin drinking. It just removed the nasty elements in the distribution chain. With drinking out in the open, the actual negative effects of the behavior could be assessed and treatments created. I'm sure very few drunks would walk into an AA meeting if they thought they might be sent to jail.

When we make a law against a behavior that may be repugnant but has little effect on others, we usually end up creating a powerful criminal. For example; drugs, prostitution, and gambling. I am tired of picking up the tab.

I want my money spent on creating opportunity for my children. Not for paying huge, huge costs for fighting a drug war that is futile.

Ultimately, if these were my only options, I would rather visit my children in a drug rehabilitation center than in jail.

Don Kreiman
Edmonds, WA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I found your reporting to be excellent as always! To see the staggering statistics just opened my eyes. I hope that all the people of my young generation can learn from the horrible lessons that play out everyday from our city streeets to suburban backyards, to the open fields of rural America.

Although the war still rages today and threatens to spread to full fledged jungle warfare in Colombia I still hold out hope that sanity and common sense will keep the next generations from ruin.

Eric Connell
Las Vegas, NV

Dear FRONTLINE,

It's tough enough getting through LIFE without having to deal with a lot of zombies doing legalized marijuana.

In BC, you smell the stink when the red-neck trucks pass, in apartment buildings, parks, concerts etc. In addition to being general social nuisances, these idiots then rush off to become slow-responding, but deadly projectiles on our nation's highways.

The only problem with not legalizing drugs in general is the danger created by the business of illegal activity. However the solution is prevention/treatment of users as well as interdiction of drugs and drug money and assets.

J. Phillips
Vancouver, BC

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for the production of this program! I feel that it has been one of the most complete and informative programs I have seen on the drug war. I appreciate your objectiveness on the issue and I am truly looking forward to the second half. Clearly, changes are needed in this country.

Mike Ford
Gladstone, Michigan

Dear FRONTLINE,

During the era of alcohol prohibition, the laws created a slurry of gangsters such as Al Capone. These types of people lived a lifestyle that folks admired. The same thing has happened again with the prohibition of recreational drugs.

The bootleggers are constantly changing the formula to provide a substance that is more concentrated and takes up less space and is then more cash producing. Human behavior has not changed, nor will it.

The solution is the truth, people do drugs to get high, other people sell drugs for money, and when there is enough money, you can buy and sell enough people to do whatever you want.

John Ehlert
Sunny Hills , Fl

Dear FRONTLINE,

Monday's show was excellent, in-depth and objective interviews of many players in the drug wars.

I am Director of Connecticut's Coalition for Drug Policy Reform, whose mission is to end the War on Drugs and find a better way to deal with drug abuse. We must begin at the state level before anything can be done with the federal government, which is entrenched in their doomed and devastating crusade against drugs and users.

Please visit our website at www.abetterwayct.org or check out the national websites www.dpf.org or www.drcnet.org.

sara sikes
NORWALK, CT

Dear FRONTLINE,

Why do I have to read 3/4 of the way through a special report on "Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories and the CIA in Central America" to find:

"He is either misinformed or lying," Winer says. "Oliver North's diaries are filled with references to drug trafficking and people associated with his enterprise drug trafficking--filled with it. Oliver North can say, 'I never hired or worked with any drug traffickers.' His organization did."

Why did your televised report on Monday night have unsubstantiated claims that cocaine was shipped through Nicaragua with the permission of the Sandinista leadership. But your report made no mention of the substantiated fact that a high White House official was hiring people he knew to be very involved in drug trafficing.

I don't find this to be objective reporting.

Scott Weikart
Palo Alto, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I wish to thank you for presenting such a poignant program. I am a 22-year-old Colombian male and have been residing in the U.S for the past 14 years. The unfortunate violence that has plagued my country over the past two decades has always gained it notoriety in the eyes of the American public. This for me is something I have to deal with every time I tell someone that I am Colombian. As a result of the American media rarely presenting a positive view of Colombia, their eyes light up, and they remember images from programs such as the one you presented. Therefore, it would have been refreshing if you had provided the viewer with a brief look into the beautiful culture we have to offer. So that viewers were not left with images of a country where violence seemingly occurs everywhere and everyday, but rather with a picture of an attractive place with positive people struggling with a world wide problem.

Erick Cifuentes
Inglewood, California

Dear FRONTLINE,

Simply, this country would be better off if marijuana were legal. People would generally be happier and peace and love among citizens would be more common. Plus, weed is much safer than certain drugs, such as alcohol, that are available to the public- which completely does not make sense. Contrary to common belief, over ninety some percent of marijuana smokers do NOT start using stronger drugs; it's falsely accused as the gateway drug. As an 18 year old college student, I see drugs' presence in the community almost every day and am deeply sad people can no longer openly experience the sweet, harmless sensation of smoking marijuana as they did decades ago. Therefore, I urge the U.S. government to leave stoners alone and instead strengthen their focus on the real killers- alcohol, crack, cocaine, heroin, meth., ecstacy, and acid- everything hurtful to people's safety. Since marijuana does not harm, it is every American's right to smoke it!

Rachel Chavez
Mesa, AZ

Dear FRONTLINE,

My congradulations for the "riveting" yet very objective analysis of the current Drug Wars.
It might be enlightening to sequel this program with another that focuses on the history of drug use in this country along with the puritanical notions of any drug use at all as a sin of distraction from staying in communication with the Lord.

richard wilmot ph.d.
oakland, california

Dear FRONTLINE,

In money terms, if all currently illicit drugs were legalized and treated as are tobacco and alcohol, including being taxed:

WHO would lose financially? And how much?
WHO would gain financially? And how much?

WHAT would be the estimated net cost/loss to the American taxpayer? Assuming that all current criminal-civil drug-based penalties were concurrently and immediately annulled.

Finally, WHY do we not see these bare economic questions being asked - let alone answered - not even by Frontline?

Graham Millar
Hilo, Hawaii

Dear FRONTLINE,

So, you're saying there was "no conspiracy" of the CIA and the Contras to import cocaine into the US. But you state their "partners" in that era imported drugs? It's only a fraction less an outrage that President Reagan's Freedom Fighters imported drugs then if the CIA did it.

It's no "cospiracy theory" that the Contras were involved in drugs, and the CIA never did anything about it. That's in their own report as you describe it. The CIA denies involvement, but when their report states they specifically didn't document what was going on all around them. Sounds a lot like they were planning to be able to cover their ass. Makes me sick.

I'm glad you've done this report. I think it's very brave work. Makes me wish for the days of Richard Nixon! I work with drug users on the street every day, and there is no way, in the context of the vast supply of drugs, that any plan without a primary focus on treatment can improve the drug situation on the ground.

It takes TWO MONTHS for a user to get into treatment in my city of Tacoma. We have 3,000 IV drug users in this city, and there are TWO detox beds for drug users. The cops arrest people, we pay $20-40,000 a year to hold them in jail or prison, and they get back out and use again. A woman named Maria got out after three years in prison last month, and died three days later using drugs, back on the street. We need to find our way out of this madness.

I hope your report is a start towards that.

bruce triggs
tacoma, wa

Dear FRONTLINE,

i have spent my entire life battling addiction and after 11 years clean and sober i relapsed and am now in the fight of my life. treatment and detox needs to be readily available to those of us who want and need it and we are many. it is not howevver and today i am scared to death that i won't make it.

i am a 56 year old female. frontline has produced an honest and informative piece of work and i can only hope that you will reach the people who make the difference and the policy. the rest of us already know the truth which is ... the government makes more mony keeping the status quo....wish me luck!!!!!

shannon hallett
seattle, wa

Dear FRONTLINE,

We must continue the war on drugs, fighting more efficiently and effectively. Also, the "war" should include appropriate emphasis and more resources on education and prevention. How bad would things have gotten had U.S. government agencies not enforced the laws? Common sense tells me you don't give up or give in fighting something that is evil just because it is difficult and costly to do so. Your reportage implies an editorial point of view.

I think you should have stated up front what your bias is. If you have conclusions to this editorial, make them explicit up front. While I welcome the series and discussion, I view it as an editorial as much as an educational piece.

To state that the "Just say no campaign was aimed soley at white middle class kids..." is no more than an unsupported statement, implying an invidious comparison to an unstated alternative approach. By the way, why don't you define the alternative from the beginning. Define what you mean by "The war on drugs"? Apparently, it means different things to different U.S. administrations, but what is it as you see it?

My point again is that the reporters have an editorial view that is implicit. Better to have it stated up front rather than underlying the entire report. My guess is that some of those in key reporting and/or editorial positions want to see "legalization" of drugs. Am I correct?

Charles Gibson
Westminster, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I enjoyed this evening's broadcast. What I would hope to see tomorrow is some education on the hundreds of thousands of icarcerations that have taken place for essentially victimlees crimes, lifestyle choices, that have ruined or degraded so many lives over the decades in the name of this failed policy.

It is time to admit that the Drug War is a failure, that things like no-knock and forfeiture laws have subverted our constitutional rights and that decriminalization and treatment programs would be much more effective as a national policy.

Bob hyland
Kirkland, WA