LEGALIZING RECREATIONAL DRUGS IS NO SOLUTION

OK. Let's legalize recreational drugs. After all, prohibition didn't
work against the use of alcohol. Our prisons are overcrowded with
people convicted of drug-related crimes, particularly minorities. And
the "war on drugs," which began in the Nixon administration and then
expanded during the Clinton years, just isn't working, so claim those
in favor of legalization.

Drugs such as cocaine, heroin, crack, methamphetamines, date-rape
drugs, hallucinogens and the ever much-maligned marijuana are all part
of the repertoire of the illegal drugs used to get "recreationally"
high in our society.

Prohibition didn't work because the vast majority of Americans not
only supported the use of alcohol, but were, in fact, using it
themselves. The numbers indicate that roughly half of all Americans
use alcohol -- the vast majority of them, responsibly.

Drug use, on the other hand, does not exist for a whopping 95 percent
of the U.S. population. And its abuse and social consequences are far
and away more devastating than those of alcohol.

While it's true that, according to the Bureau of Prisons statistics,
53 percent of all prison inmates are convicted on drug charges, the
majority of these have been "pleaded" down from more serious offenses.
Simple first-time possession rarely gets you a prison term.

Drug-related crimes, however, are abundant. The Drug Enforcement
Administration states that homicides are committed six times more
often under the influence of drugs than at other times. And how many
robberies, assaults, burglaries, domestic battery and child neglect
incidents are related to drug use -- either while high or in an effort
to get that way?

Marijuana, for the most part, is treated as a simple misdemeanor for
possession. Pay a fine and you're on your way. And for those who fight
for legalization for medicinal purposes, there is an
alternative.

Marinol, the FDA-approved source of THC for medicinal use, is
available, but it requires a prescription from a doctor, and you can't
smoke it.

A 20-year-old man was sentenced to prison for dealing cocaine and
shooting at a woman. The shots were fired in a park where other
children were playing at the time. His lawyer claimed, "He began
selling cocaine when he couldn't find a job," and, "He was selling
drugs to survive."

In another incident, a woman forgot that her lighter was still burning
after smoking crack cocaine -- and the result was 20 families burned
out of their homes.

And finally, we have another young man who gave his girlfriend an
overdose of morphine and left her alone to die because he was afraid
of being caught.

Party on.