INHERENT FAILURE

Regarding Sen. Bob Graham's April 19 op-ed piece on increased Ecstasy
penalties: Ecstasy is the latest illegal drug to be making headlines, but
it won't be the last until politicians acknowledge the drug war's inherent
failure.

Drug policies modeled after our disastrous experiment with alcohol
prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug
dealers do not ID for age, but they do push trendy, profitable "club drugs"
such as Ecstasy, regardless of the dangers posed.

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.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets and establishing age controls for
marijuana have proven more effective than zero tolerance. Here in the
United States, kids have an easier time buying pot than beer. Although pot
is arguably safer than alcohol -- marijuana has never been shown to cause
an overdose death -- marijuana prohibition is deadly. Illegal marijuana
provides the black-market contacts that introduce users to drugs such as
heroin. This "gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy.

Drug-policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to
think the children are more important than the message. Opportunistic
"tough on drugs" politicians would no doubt disagree.

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