DRUG WAR INEFFECTIVE

Mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses have
done little other than turn the alleged land of the free into the
world's biggest jailer. If harsh penalties deterred drug use, the goal
of a "drug free" America would have been achieved decades ago.

Instead of adding to what is already the highest incarceration rate in
the world, we should be funding drug treatment.

The drug war is a cure that is worse than the disease. Drug
prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad,
which is then used to justify increased drug war spending. It's time
to end this madness and instead treat all substance abuse, legal or
otherwise, as the public health problem it is.

Thanks to public education efforts, tobacco use has declined
considerably in recent years.

Apparently mandatory minimum sentences, civil asset forfeiture, random
drug testing and racial profiling are not necessarily the most
cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices. Drug abuse is
bad, but the drug war is worse.

Robert Sharpe,

Washington, D.C.

The writer is a policy analyst for Common Sense for
Drug Policy in Washington, D.C.