TEEN VIEW: COUNTRY CONTINUES A LOST WAR ON DRUGS

Did you know that in 1982, the Reagan administration spent $1.65 billion on
efforts to continue a war already lost? Then the Clinton administration
poured nearly $20 billion down the same dark hole in 1999. But this isn't
just any war waged in Israel, Bosnia or between some African tribes. It's
an image war we're fighting in our own back yards, in our schoolyards and
workplaces.

I didn't realize until recently how little I knew about the world drug
trade or of our government's ineffective efforts to curb it. Now I know
nothing can stop something so huge, something so near to our suburban
homes, golf courses and shopping malls.

In the film "Traffic," actor Michael Douglas gave up his role as U.S. drug
czar when he realized his own daughter was addicted. He said, "How do you
wage war on your own family?"

That still boggles my mind. He's right. We cannot wage such a war,
especially since it's already lost.

There is no way to stop the flood of illegal drugs into our country. Mexico
is a virtual drug pipeline into America, handling the flow of 65 percent of
the world drug supply. And President Bush wants to further open the border
between our countries? Insane.

The busiest border crossing in the world is in San Ysidro, Calif., where
every day an average of 43,000 cars cross into the United States from
Mexico through 16 lanes. On a busier day, 65,000 cars pass, and 35,000
people cross on foot. Due to this extreme flow of traffic, law enforcement
and Drug Enforcement Agency officers have only 30 seconds to determine if a
car or semi-trailer might be carrying one tiny drop of the drug flood bound
for the veins and nostrils of hard-core addicts and rookies everywhere.

On a typical day, border agents in San Ysidro confiscate about 15 loads of
three main drugs: cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines. In 1999, the
California crossings alone produced seizures of 10,000 pounds of cocaine,
225 pounds of heroin, 1,100 pounds of methamphetamines and 380,000 pounds
of marijuana. In fact, marijuana traffic is so large that loads of less
than 150 pounds are actually turned back at the border, without charges or
arrests, because there just isn't enough space to hold more prisoners. Yet
these tons of seized drugs don't make a dent in the trade.

America offers an enormous market, which guarantees profits for dealers and
a loss in the war. Our government simply cannot win a "war" against a
product so profitable for poor growers; provided by traffickers with
limitless resources; through a pipeline with virtually no constrictions; to
a population that welcomes it with open arms.

A drug trafficker can grow a product for 30 cents and sell it on the street
for as much as $150. The border is alchemy. Drugs dirt cheap in Mexico turn
to gold in the United States. That's what keeps drugs coming.

This supply and demand is the foundation of American capitalism. Wiping out
supply leaves demand unsatisfied, causing rising prices, prompting more
people to risk producing a crop. If you put pressure on one source, another
will pop up elsewhere.

The DEA generously estimates it intercepts about 40 percent of all drugs
entering the country. A study by the U.S. Army and Office of National Drug
Control Policy says at least 75 percent would need to be seized to reduce
the profitability of trafficking.

Border patrol resources include 2,180 agents with 1,800 vehicles, 10
helicopters with infrared cameras, and more technology actually buried in
the ground. Some of this technology can detect certain magnetic patterns of
passing vehicles and even the footsteps of a hiker. Still, we haven't begun
to dent the ability of Mexican cartels to feed the American habit.

Losing the drug war should not be our greatest embarrassment. We should be
most red-faced over continuing the war despite our obvious loss.

Teen View columnist Austin Jameson is a rising senior at High Point Central
High School.