DRUG POLICY FLAWS

Regarding "Task force leader keeps up fight," (4/11, Independence & Raytown
Neighborhood News), the Jackson County Drug Task Force may be the worst
nightmare of drug dealers who actually get busted, but otherwise the task
force unwittingly provides price supports for organized crime.

Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant
only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. In terms of addictive
drugs like meth, a temporary rise in street prices leads desperate addicts
to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits.

Make no mistake, the drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. With
alcohol prohibition repealed, liquor producers no longer gun each down in
drive-by shootings, nor do consumers go blind drinking unregulated bathtub gin.

Drug policies designed to protect children have given rise to a
youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don't ID for age. As the
most popular illicit drug, marijuana provides the black market contacts
that introduce youth to drugs like meth. This "gateway" is the direct
result of a fundamentally flawed policy.

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, alcohol
would be illegal and marijuana would not. Replacing marijuana prohibition
with adult regulation would effectively undermine the thriving black market.

Robert Sharpe

Program officer, Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation

Washington, D.C.