CUT IN BYRNE GRANT IS NO LOSS

In a Feb. 29 editorial, The Spectrum's editorial board decried the
loss of 70 percent of Utah's federal Edward Byrne Justice Assistance
Grant program, a program dedicated to providing funds for drug task
forces and criminal justice programs.

The editorial proclaims, "State drug task forces have made 9,714
arrests and have removed 1,100 pounds of cocaine, 519 pounds of
methamphetamine and 486 pounds of marijuana from the street." They
call this success?

Drugs and drug dealers are still on Utah's streets.

Success is not a perpetual cycle of arrests and seizures, yet that's
what our drug war has given us. When illegal drugs are seized, don't
kid yourself into believing it has any impact on drug availability or
public safety. Those losses are the equivalent of what major retailers
expect from shoplifting or damage.

It's just one cost of doing business and is factored into product
pricing.

Richard Nixon declared this new prohibition as a "war" in 1971. It has
cost our nation $1 trillion to attempt to eliminate drugs from
society. The failed war on drugs causes abuse and suffering, both
financial and social. It decimates our Constitution and costs the
lives of innocent civilians and police officers.

It's filling our prisons with non-violent drug offenders, straining
decimated lives and our state and regional budgets. When police chase
drugs, they often neglect real crimes.

A front-page investigation by the St. Louis Post Dispatch details the
abject failure of law enforcement to find federal fugitives.

Millions of felons, many wanted for violent crimes, have fled from
arrest simply because police agencies fail to enter warrant data into
the FBI's National Crime Information Center. Estimates are that
one-third are not entered.

FBI reports also state that the homicide clearance rate is now lower
than it was in 1950, despite all the modern technology.

In our fervor to eliminate the scourge of drug abuse - which is
separate and distinct from drug use - I believe we've left grea-ter
problems unaddressed. I challenge our "lock-em-up" mentality and
assert there are working alternatives. Drug policy has gone
unchallenged for decades and many citizens are falling for the tough
on drugs rhetoric and hyperbole.

When The Spectrum's editorial board considers taking a stand on
subjects like the Byrne Grant funding cuts, deeper study and research
would benefit our readers.

Perhaps the editors should consider there are conservative
organizations seeking to end the Byrne grants: the American
Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, Citizens against
Government Waste, the National Taxpayers Union and the National Black
Police Association.

Have no doubt - the drug war is a colossal failure.

It increases the harms from drug abuse, increases profits of criminal
syndicates and fails the citizens it's meant to serve.

The time has come to end this fraudulent waste of taxpayer dollars and
American lives.

Edward Byrne deserves to be honored for his service and ultimate
sacrifice.

The best way to do that is to end the travesty of policy failure that
cost him his life.