LEGALIZATION IS A TERRIBLE IDEA

H.L. Mencken once said: "For every problem there is one solution:
simple, neat and wrong." In our opinion, this is exactly the case when
it comes to the suggestion of legalizing drugs as a response to the
failed war on drugs. In fact, we find it absurd, a simplistic answer
to a complicated problem.

So, the war on drugs is not working. Agreed. But the question to ask
is, "Why?" Is it not working because using drugs is really a fine
idea, and we've been unjust and unreasonable in not letting everyone
do whatever they want to do? Or is it not working because the way
we've gone about waging this war set us up for failure?

Without a doubt, we think it's the latter.

Almost all the effort in the war in drugs has been aimed at punishing
traffickers and users and reducing the supply. Yet even many of those
directly involved in these efforts have said that this is the wrong
way to go about the task -- and they've been saying it for years.

The premise underlying these approaches is the idea that supply drives
demand: The more drugs there are, the more people use them. It is a
fatally flawed assumption. The truth is just the opposite: Demand
drives supply, and until we accept the significance of this
fundamental failure of understanding, the strategies we come up with
will continue to fail. In other words, the failure of the war on drugs
is no justification for legalizing these harmful stubstances.

Another idea behind legalization is that because people continue to
use drugs regardless of the laws prohibiting their use, we might as
well just repeal the laws. Let's apply that idea to other
prohibitions:

People still steal, so let's legalize stealing. People still speed, so
let's remove all the speed limits. People still drink and drive, so
let's legalize drinking and driving. Date-rape continues; let's
legalize date-rape. The point? Shifting from one flawed premise to
another solves nothing.

Incredibly, advocates of legalizing drugs often point to alcohol as an
example of a successfully legalized drug. This is a terribly weak
argument. Do they really not understand that -- in terms of lives
disrupted, ruined and ended before their time -- the legal drug
alcohol is by far a bigger problem than any other drug?

Some say that by legalizing drugs, the gangs that subsist on the
revenue from trafficking will cease to be a problem. Nonsense. Kids
don't join gangs to sell drugs; they join gangs to belong to
something, to gain a sense of identity and to feel protected. If gangs
weren't selling drugs, they'd still be stealing cars, jewelry,
computers, cell phones and, for that matter, legal prescription drugs
- -- just as they are now.

How about the argument that legalizing drugs would eliminate the black
market in drugs and, thus, reduce the number of crimes committed to
support the habits of addicts. Really? So once drugs were legalized,
all the addicts suddenly would get good-paying jobs to earn the money
they need to buy their drugs legally? Ridiculous.

Whether drugs are legal or illegal, addicts still will be impaired,
they'll still suffer from drug-affected behaviors, still be
dysfunctional and still do anything they have to do to survive.

Is there a solution? We think there is, but it would require a
completely different type of effort, one that takes advantage of
lessons learned about what really works and what doesn't. It would
involve three basic strategies:

- - First, it is absolutely imperative to zero in on the problem of
demand. That means really getting serious -- for the first time in our
nation's history -- about prevention. We've learned a great deal in
recent years about how to conduct successful programs to prevent young
people from starting to use drugs. What has been missing is the will
to do so and resources to make it possible.

- - Second, making sure the prevention programs work requires follow-up
public education and awareness campaigns of extremely high quality and
sophistication.

- - Lastly, the approach of law enforcement and the justice system needs
to combine a degree of decriminalization -- not legalization -- with
greater access to quality treatment programs and much more stringent
enforcement of anti-trafficking laws.

Drug abuse is a major public health problem. It cannot be solved by
capitulating to the demand for drugs that destroy lives via addiction.
It can be solved by honestly acknowledging what we've learned about
what works and what doesn't. The sooner the better.

Daniel K. Duncan is director of community services and Edward F. Tasch
is executive director of the St. Louis area chapter of the National
Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.