Web Posted: 09/28/2009 12:00 CDT
Drug war under fire at policy summit
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By John MacCormack

EL PASO — The year was 1969, and as suburban American teenagers explored the exotic possibilities of the $10 lid — about an ounce of marijuana, seeds, stems and all — Vietnam vets were coming home as addicts and inner cities were being hit by heroin epidemics.

In June that year, President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse “a serious national threat,â€