WAR ON DRUGS NEEDS MYRIAD TOOLS

Reporter Editor:

This is a response to your editorial, "High-tech bridle" (Reporter,
June 16).

The recent Supreme Court ruling against the use of thermal imaging
highlights a major flaw in the drug war. Simply put, it's not possible
to wage a moralistic war against consensual vices unless privacy is
completely eliminated, along with the Constitution. America can either
be a free country or a "drug-free" country, but not both.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling stemmed from police use of thermal
imaging to detect indoor grow lights used in marijuana cultivation.
The drug war is in large part a war against marijuana, by far the most
popular illicit drug.

In 1999, there were 704,812 arrests for marijuana, 620,541 for
possession alone. For a drug that has never been shown to cause an
overdose death, the allocation of resources used to enforce marijuana
laws is outrageous.

Of course, a reform of marijuana laws would derail the entire drug war
gravy train.

Marijuana is demonized as a "gateway" drug that leads to harder drugs,
when in fact marijuana prohibition is best described as a gateway
policy. Illicit marijuana provides the black market contacts that
introduce users to harder drugs like heroin. And let's not kid
ourselves about protecting children. The thriving black market has no
age controls.

Taxing and regulating marijuana is a cost-effective alternative to
spending tens of billions annually on a failed drug war. It makes no
sense to waste scarce resources on failed policies that finance
organized crime, facilitate the use of addictive hard drugs, and
threaten to undermine America's Constitution.

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer, Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy
Foundation, Washington, D.C.