ISN'T THERE A BROADER WAY TO BATTLE DRUGS?

The increased use of so-called club drugs is a disturbing trend, because of
the physical ill-effects they can cause in users and because their use is
sometimes a gateway for harder drugs. Still, it's tough to generate much
enthusiasm about the same old retaliatory response now being hatched in the
General Assembly. The state Senate last week approved a measure that would
make penalties for dealing club drugs, such as Ecstasy, the same as those
for selling LSD, heroin or cocaine.

Giving club drug dealers up to 30 years before bars might be warranted if
the damage done by club drugs equalled that of, say, heroin. But there's
scant evidence that's the case. Lawmakers talk about club-drug deaths, but
some of the fatalities they refer to were caused by Ecstasy look-alikes -
not Ecstasy itself.

This is by no means a defense of those who profit from selling illegal
drugs. But filling state prisons with drug dealers hasn't enjoyed much
success in stemming the flow of truly hard drugs, so there's reason to
doubt it will be any more effective in curbing the use of drugs that might
not be as harmful. It will, however, have the effect of further cramming
the prisons.

This narrow focus on tougher penalties without any accompanying effort to
curb demand or to treat those addicted to hard drugs strikes us as the
pattern of some folks who could stand to broaden their approach.