DRUG WAR FUELS CRIME

A Bibb County district attorney was quoted in your Sept. 24 article on the
high percentage of Georgia residents under court supervision saying, "75
percent of what we deal with here is drug related." The term "drug related"
is misleading.

The crime, corruption and overdose deaths attributed to drugs are all
direct results of drug prohibition. With alcohol prohibition repealed,
liquor producers no longer gun each down in drive-by shootings, nor do
consumers go blind drinking unregulated bathtub gin.

Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant
only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. In terms of addictive
drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to
increase criminal activity. The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels
crime. Rather than waste resources waging a counterproductive war against
consensual vices, U.S. politicians would be wise to follow the lead of
Europe and embrace harm reduction, a public health alternative to the drug war.

Examples include marijuana regulation aimed at separating the hard and soft
drug markets, needle exchange programs to stop the spread of HIV, and
treatment alternatives that do not require a criminal record as a prerequisite.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A. Program Officer, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy
Foundation, Washington, DC