Tarahumara Indians

Don Bartletti's photographs and Alan Weisman's story ("The Drug Lords Vs. the Tarahumara," Jan. 9) were compelling--and they also support rethinking the ravaging problem of drugs. Yes, let's legalize 'em, regulate 'em and tax the bejesus out of 'em. The Tarahumaras will get their land, and their peace back, and so too might America's cities. PATRESHIA TKACH Santa Monica What is happening to the Tarahumara Indians is the result of the U.S. drug policy. The drug war is no more successful than Prohibition was, and the anti-drug laws are as out-of-date as the anti-abortion laws in place in some states.

THERE WASN'T MUCH MORE THE OLD Tarahumara Indian healer, Agustin Ramos, could do for the man taking refuge in Pino Gordo, high in Mexico's western Sierra Madre: All the medicine that grows in the Sierra couldn't reverse the damage that automatic weapons had wreaked upon 30-year-old Gumersindo Torres. Nevertheless, he entered his dream to ask his god, Onuruame, what might bring the broken young man some relief.

Brotherhood binds the Tarahumara Indians. They live by the tenet, "Today for you, tomorrow for me." Relations with the chabochi , as they call whites, are more difficult. Tarahumaras can run deer and horses to exhaustion. But in the life-and-death race with disease, hunger and exploitation, they are losing. Efforts to help the Tarahumaras have attracted attention to the gentle tribe, whose bad luck with civilization mirrors that of other Indians.

Answers in Mexico In the Jan. 6 Letters Ralph Lazo wrote regarding a Dec. 9 article on the Barranca del Cobre in Mexico and stated that he will be leading a group through the area this spring. My daughter, son-in-law and I were in a group led by Lazo last spring. It was interesting and fun: the train trip, the city of Chihuahua, the lumber town of Creel, the picturesque lodge we stayed in at Cusarrare, the overnight stop at Divisadero, all the sightseeing, shopping for baskets and other items made by the Tarahumara Indians.