DECLARE PEACE IN THE FAILED DRUG WAR

Attorney General John Ashcroft stated in an Aug. 20 article on the increase
in federal drug offenses that "Tougher federal drug laws are making a real
difference in clearing major offenders from our nation's streets." Who's he
kidding? Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains
constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. The obscene
profits to be made ensure replacement dealers. Filling America's bloated
prison system with drug addicts and citizens responding to the financial
incentives created by drug laws is not the answer.

Criminalizing public health problems like addiction creates a
self-fulfilling prophesy. The crime, corruption and overdose deaths
attributed to drugs are all direct results of drug prohibition.

The drug war doesn't fight crime; it fuels it. It's time to declare peace
in the failed drug war and begin pursuing policies that acknowledge the
negative consequences of both drug use and drug prohibition.

Robert Sharpe
Washington, D.C.

Sharpe is a program officer for the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation.