BIG DRUG RAIDS

Good News For The Racketeers

Drug agents recently announced another massive roundup of illegal
drug sellers and their contraband. The federal Drug Enforcement
Agency and collaborating foreign operatives were arresting 105 people
in eight cities from Mexico to New York. They said three operations
since 1997 had brought 248 arrests, seizure of 9,000 pounds of
marijuana, 21,000 kilograms of cocaine and confiscation of $36
million in cash.

This sounds like a great victory for the "war on drugs," which you
and I so lavishly underwrite with our tax dollars. Actually, it's the
very sort of action that keeps the drug black market humming along
without coming anywhere close to shutting down the traffic.

Prohibition enforcement activities keep drug prices high enough to
provide plenty of money for traffickers to bribe government officials
and take the risks of apprehension. For every arrest, a dozen eager
new dealers fill the void and stand to get rich.

Even more threatening to our society, high drug prices cause
desperate users continually to commit crime to get money for their
habits. Drug criminals fill our prisons, causing another huge drain
on public resources.

Yet, we citizens support these activities. Why?

Every argument against legalizing drugs is laced with worries about
encouraging use, particularly among young people. Yet recent surveys
show use of prohibited drugs among teenagers is higher than use of
legally available tobacco. Among high school seniors, 40.9 percent
reported using some sort of drug; 34.6 percent reported using
cigarettes. Drug use has been stable for the past four years while
cigarette use has gone down.

Greater reductions in cigarette use were attributed to increased
attention given to the dangers of smoking. With a similarly
comprehensive education campaign, I believe we could have a similar
effect on drug use.

By ending drug prohibition, we could accomplish several things. We
could eliminate the black market and its associated crime. We could
save the monstrous cost of the war on drugs. We could avoid the
assault on civil liberties often associated with drug enforcement.
And we could concentrate money and effort on prevention of use
through education-propaganda.

The great unknown that has kept the drug warriors in business is the
allegation that legal drugs would lead to a nation of addicts. Whom
are we kidding? If anyone thinks drugs are hard to get now, he's
nuts. Teenagers certainly are having no difficulty. Moreover, the
crime network that entices our young people is a much more insidious
influence than drugs on supermarket shelves alongside cigarettes. Do
you prefer an individual pusher for your son or daughter? Drug use is
an underground activity now, making it much harder for parents and
other presumably responsible citizens to control.

The DEA chief of operations says "we've affected them and forced them
into new alliances to keep functioning." Is this an accomplishment
worth the serious problems associated with prohibition?

Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still.

- - Chinese proverb