LOCAL DRUGS PROVE PROBLEM

To The Packet:

According to The Packet's Aug. 10 article, a former Drug Enforcement
Administration agent living on Hilton Head Island has had
14-year-olds tell him that drugs such as heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy,
marijuana and methamphetamine are readily available on the island. So
much for protecting the children from drugs.

One has to wonder if these same 14-year-olds would be able to walk
into a liquor store and purchase alcohol or tobacco.

Drug policies modeled after our disastrous experiment with alcohol
prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal
drug dealers do not ID for age, but they do push trendy, profitable
"club drugs," regardless of the dangers posed.

There are cost-effective alternatives. In Europe, the Netherlands has
successfully reduced overall drug use by replacing marijuana
prohibition with regulation. Dutch rates of drug use are
significantly lower than U.S. rates in every category.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets and establishing age
controls for marijuana have proven more effective than
zero-tolerance. Although pot is arguably safer than legal alcohol --
the plant has never been shown to cause an overdose death --
marijuana prohibition is deadly.

As the most popular illicit drug, marijuana provides the black market
contacts that introduce users to harder drugs like heroin. This
"gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy. Drug
policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to
think the children themselves are more important than the message.

Robert Sharpe, program officer The Lindesmith Center Drug Policy
Foundation Washington, D.C.