DRUG WAR

Editor, Times-Union:

According to Mark Souder U.S. Representative ( R-Ind., District 4)
methamphetamine use has reached epidemic levels and more law
enforcement is the cure. Meth is the latest dangerous drug to be
making headlines, but it won't be the last until policymakers
acknowledge the drug war's inherent failure. 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
guarantee replacement dealers. In terms of addictive drugs like meth,
a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal
activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime,
it fuels crime. With alcohol prohibition repealed, liquor producers
no longer gun each down in drive-by shootings, nor do consumers go
blind drinking unregulated bathtub gin.

Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a
youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don't ID for age,
but they do push addictive drugs like meth. 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 has proven more effective
than zero tolerance.

As the most popular illegal drug, marijuana provides the black market
contacts that introduce youth to hard drugs like meth. This "gateway"
is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy. Given that
marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol - pot has never been
shown to cause an overdose death - it makes no sense to waste tax
dollars on failed policies that finance organized crime and
facilitate the use of highly addictive drugs hard drugs. Drug policy
reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to think
the children themselves are more important than the message.
Opportunistic "tough on drugs" politicians would no doubt disagree.

A dated comparison of Dutch v. American rates of drug use can be
found at: www.netherlands-embassy.org/c_drugstat.html

More recent figures can be found at: www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm

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

www.drugpolicy.org
Washington, D.C.