DONNIE MARSHALL: DRUG WAR REQUIRES DUAL ATTACK Americans once again are embroiled in a debate over how to solve the drug epidemic that plagues our communities. Some favor a heavy emphasis on arresting drug traffickers, while others argue for reducing drug demand. Unfortunately, that supply vs. demand debate goes on and on while mothers are losing children to drug overdoses, drug-related violence cripples entire neighborhoods, and drug lords count their profits in billions of dollars. Any strategy that overemphasizes either supply or demand is doomed to failure. The complex drug trade, in which the elements of both supply and demand are seamlessly interwoven, can be solved only through a combination of tough law enforcement and prevention with education. Neither strategy works in isolation, and neither is the sole answer to the problem. Critics of law enforcement ardently claim that reducing demand is the key. But our society is full of examples where supply creates demand. Just look at Plano. During 1996 and 1997, drug traffickers eagerly poured heroin into that community, which had no history of serious drug use. As a result, 14 teens and young adults died tragically. We now are seeing the same cycle repeated across the nation with methamphetamine and the drug Ecstasy in "rave" clubs. Ruthless traffickers are aggressively marketing their poisons with no regard for the welfare of their weak and vulnerable victims. In fact, traffickers sometimes include free samples of heroin with cocaine shipments to recruit users. Supply clearly is generating demand, and we can't afford to underestimate the significance of that relationship. The term "pusher" didn't leap into the lexicon of the drug culture spontaneously, and the schoolyard pusher is more than just a stereotype. In one form or another, he exists in most American communities. Kids don't start a drug habit because of some instinctive urge to load their bodies up with chemicals. They start because someone, a friend or a dealer, has introduced drugs to them. Our kids are at the end of a long chain of drug distribution that can be traced back to drug lords in places like Mexico and Colombia. Get rid of those drug lords, and you have a much better chance of getting rid of the drug problem. Compounding the situation is the manifest connection between drug use and drug-related violence. The simple truth is that drug users commit crimes and, all too often, violent crimes. That linkage has been documented. In 1999, the Justice Department found that 64 percent of adult male federal prisoners across the nation tested positive for drugs at the time of their arrest. Here in Dallas, 61 percent tested positive, and of those arrested for violent crimes, more than half tested positive for drugs. As part of our response, the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested more than 40,000 drug criminals last year; that is our job. But just as we can't educate our way out of the nation's relentless drug epidemic, we can't arrest our way out of it, either. What we need is a balanced strategy that relies on prevention, education, law enforcement, supply reduction and international cooperation. That holistic approach has proved successful in the past. During the past 20 years, drug use in the United States has been reduced by half. In 1979, about 14 percent of Americans aged 12 and older were current users, meaning that they used drugs at least once during the previous month. By 1999, that number had been reduced to less than 7 percent. I believe drug enforcement made a big contribution to that decrease in drug use. This isn't the time to abandon a proven strategy of balance. Now is the time to increase that strategy and seize the opportunity to make further progress. We are far from claiming victory. There is much work to be done by all of us, parents, educators, businesses, law enforcement, the medical community, civic leaders, clergy and concerned citizens. But I know that we can reduce drug abuse and drug-related crime to much lower levels. To do so, we must renew our resolve as a nation, and we must attack both the supply and demand sides of the problem with equal vigor. We must continue our balanced approach as each successive generation comes of age.
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