IT'S TIME TO DECLARE PEACE IN THE FAILED DRUG WAR

Editor:

In response to the above-mentioned editorial:

U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the drug testing of pregnant women on
constitutional grounds, but there are compelling health arguments as
well.

If the invasive practice had continued, the threat of criminal
sanctions would discourage pregnant women who use drugs from seeking
prenatal care. This would only increase maternal and infant mortality
and morbidity.

The zero-tolerance approach to illicit drugs compounds the problem.
When drug use is driven underground, individuals suffering from
chronic addiction, pregnant or otherwise, are less likely to seek
treatment. Would alcoholics seek help if doing so were tantamount to
confessing to criminal activity? Likewise, would putting every
incorrigible alcoholic behind bars and saddling them with criminal
records prove cost-effective?

The threat of prison that coerced treatment relies upon can backfire
when it's actually put to use. Prisons transmit violent habits and
values rather than reduce them. The vast majority of drug users hold
jobs and pay taxes. Turning potentially productive members of society
into hardened criminals serves no purpose.

Alcohol, incidentally, causes the greatest number of and most severe
birth defects. It kills more Americans annually than all illegal drugs
combined.

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms,
alcohol and tobacco would both be illegal and marijuana would not.
It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and start treating
all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem
it is.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation

Washington, D.C.