to the editor: President Trump threatens to attack Venezuela and apparently considers the same with Colombia, supposedly because it supplies cocaine to US citizens (“In Colombia, anger and disbelief at Trump's threats to attack the United States” December 3). Cocaine use is a problem for many people and drug addiction can ruin a person's life. But is using the military the right answer?
According to the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and HealthAbout 1.5% of Americans ages 12 and older (4.3 million people) used cocaine in the past year. How much are we spending to help these people?
Mark Cancian, senior defense adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, recently said washington mail that operating an aircraft carrier can cost up to $8.4 million a day. The USS Gerald R. Ford entered Latin American waters on November 16, along with several destroyers. According to Cancian's estimate, 20 days of operation of the plane could cost around $168 million. Meanwhile, every strike, costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Could there be a cheaper way to directly help cocaine users? Or, furthermore, is this even our biggest problem? What about the leading cause of youth death in the US? which firearmsnot cocaine? Why is it apparently more important to stop using cocaine than to save children?
The cost of completely destroying cocaine trafficking from Venezuela and Colombia through naval operations could be considerable, and I do not believe it will decrease demand here or stop trafficking of this drug from other countries.
Using the military to resolve domestic problems is enormously costly, puts the lives of our soldiers at risk, and, given the legally dubious nature of these attacks, also puts the careers of our military leaders at risk.
Barbara Snider, Huntington Beach
