MONEY SHOULD BE FOCUS OF DRUG WAR

Celebrated actor and Hollywood's most notorious dope fiend Robert Downey
Jr. entered a no contest plea and was sentenced Monday in yet another of
his long series of drug arrests. He received probation, a stint in narco
treatment and assorted fines and costs.

The court appearance was televised live on CNN and other news outlets. Some
activists took advantage of the cameras to stand in the courtroom and raise
homemade signs urging the end of America's drug war.

While I don't know the motives of these particular protesters--they may be
sincere or they may be just a few more California kooks--the message isn't
one we should ignore.

Our nation's current drug policy isn't working. We spend untold billions
every year on drug interdiction, investigations, confiscations, arrests,
trials, prison confinements and all of the other components in our war on
drugs.

But it doesn't do much good. All the good efforts of the various law
enforcement agencies are more of a nuisance than a deterrent. Anyone who
wants drugs can still get them and the suppliers are still making money--a
lot of money.

Money. That's the key to the drug problem and that's where we should focus
our energies if we are serious about containing and eventually reducing our
addict population and the societal costs of drug abuse.

Most drug crime is rooted in money. The image of a wild-eyed drug addict
shooting up and going berserk is mostly the stuff of movies. Drug crime is
usually about addicts getting money for drugs, even if that means they have
to hurt or kill innocent people. Or it is about drug gangs killing to
protect their business or territory.

If the U.S. were to legalize drugs and allow business to sell them it
wouldn't solve a thing. Knowing the government, drugs would certainly carry
a heavy tax. Drugs are cheap to make and organized criminal groups can
undercut the legitimate price. And of course they don't worry too much
about taxes.

And addicts would still have to find a way to pay for their fix.

The only way to get the drug problem under control fast is to have the U.S.
legalize drugs and the government give them away.

You read right. Give them away. Free. To anyone who wants them.

Drug gangs can't undercut free. Addicts don't have to steal to get free drugs.

The government would set up and operate drug distribution centers. Perhaps
offer meals and health checkups. Certainly give out clean needles.

Offer drug treatment to anyone who wants it but don't make it like a soup
kitchen where the users have to hear a sermon before they get fed. Just let
the addicts know treatment is available.

The savings would be enormous. The feds could supply drugs and offer
treatment--as long and as often as is necessary--for a fraction of the cost
of our drug war.

Overburdened local police resources would be freed to concentrate on other
crimes. Prisons would not be bursting at the seams. Court dockets would not
be as clogged.

And since there is no profit motive, there would be no pushers. No sales
force. No incentive to get other people hooked. The addict population would
not rise. Eventually--as drugs take their toll--it would decrease. And a
visit to one of these drug distribution centers by a school class would do
a lot to show students there is no glamour in addiction.

It would mean giving up on the current generation of addicts, unless those
addicts avail themselves of offered help. But, save for prison, we have
pretty much done that.

It isn't about drugs. It is about money. Get rid of the money and the drug
war is over.