RESERVE MOST SEVERE PRISON TERMS FOR THE WORST DRUG DEALERS - EXPERT

EDMONTON - Lengthy prison sentences should be reserved for the worst
traffickers who use children or guns to deal drugs, and shouldn't be
based primarily on how much they sell, says a U.S. expert on
drug-control policy.

"You want drug sentences to be based not merely on the drug that's
being sold and the quantity, which is the fundamental basis for most
drug sentencing both in the U.S. and in Canada, but on the conduct of
the drug seller," said Mark Kleiman, who directs the drug policy
analysis program at UCLA School of Public Affairs.

"You want to create competitive disadvantage for the most obnoxious
dealing styles and unfortunately, routine drug-law enforcement creates
competitive advantage for the most obnoxious dealing styles," Kleiman
said after giving the introductory talk to 950 delegates at the Issues
of Substance conference in Edmonton. "If I am the most violent drug
dealer in town, no one wants to be a witness against me, so reputation
for violence actually protects me against law enforcement, and you
have to reverse those incentives."

Simply putting more drug dealers behind bars won't decrease the
quantity of drugs on the street, Kleiman said. Instead, the goal
should be to reduce the amount of damage being done in a neighbourhood
through break-ins, violence or targeting kids.

In New York City, for instance, police targeted people dealing openly
on street corners, arresting them immediately. Now, dealers use
cellphones and pizza-delivery trucks to drop off drug orders.

There is no evidence there is less drug abuse, Kleiman said, but the
streets are safer.

"The goal of drug policy is to limit damage, not to wage cultural
warfare," he said. Many people drink alcohol or smoke marijuana
without doing harm. Kleiman said a new "unexploited" policy should be
considered: Legalize the personal use of some drugs while forbidding
the sale.

"Legalization is no panacea," he said. Think of alcohol: It's legal
but does more damage than all other drugs combined.

Drug policy, in the end, must tackle alcohol and drug abuse
simultaneously. Alcohol taxes should be raised, he said, and age
restrictions on its use should be abolished, since the restrictions
are often broken.

"A law that most people break is a bad law," Kleiman
said.

Instead, alcohol should be denied to people who abuse
it.

Non-drinkers drivers' licences could be issued, he
suggested.

Doctors in emergency departments should ask routine screening
questions to find problem drinkers, Kleiman said. Studies have shown
such a program reduces the rate of injury over the next six months by
47 per cent.

The screening also gives people a chance to recover "spontaneously"
without needing a formal treatment program, he said.

The Issues of Substance conference runs until Wednesday.

It is put on by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuses, the Canadian
Executive Council on Addictions, and the Alberta Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Commission.