WE CAN'T WIN THIS WAR DESPITE EFFORTS THAT SPAN DECADES

It's the war nobody in Washington is talking much about these days,
primarily because we're losing it so badly.

The war was started by Richard Nixon and has been fought by
Republican and Democratic administrations alike with no measurable
difference in the outcome: we're losing and losing badly.

We're talking about the War on Drugs that was supposed to cleanse the
nation of the curse of illegal substance abuse. We have spent
hundreds of billions of dollars at home and abroad fighting this war.

We have attacked the producers in South America, Eastern Europe and
Asia. We tried bribing farmers in those countries to grow other
crops. We helped governments destroy illegal drug operations, which
have led to violent clashes between drug lords who were more powerful
than local police in some areas.

In countries like Columbia, law enforcement and judicial officials
were routinely kidnapped and assassinated.

Closer to home, a recent report by a public policy analyst states
that marijuana is the nation's largest cash crop, bigger than corn
and wheat combined.

Jon Gettman told Reuters that he estimates U.S. growers produce
nearly $35 billion worth of marijuana annually. Gettman used
government estimates of the size of the illegal crop and national
survey data on prices for the drug.

Officials with the Office of National Drug Control Policy wouldn't
confirm Gettman's estimate, however place overall U.S. illegal drug
use at $200 billion annually.

When you consider that we have the largest number of people in prison
of any country in the world and 49 percent of the inmates in federal
prison were convicted of drug charges, you have to conclude
something's not working.

Here on the Lakeshore, felony drug arrests have nearly doubled this
year over last year. While we would like to think drugs are a "big
city" problem, our local crime statistics show that's clearly not the case.

Some have suggested that legalizing drug use at least marijuana is an
answer to part of the problem. The drug could be regulated and taxed
much like alcohol is today.

Unfortunately, that argument doesn't hold up. Even though it is
regulated and taxed, alcohol is abused and is a serious social
problem that rivals illegal drug use in its detrimental affect on society.

We can't win a war on drugs. That doesn't mean we stop enforcing drug
laws, but it's clear that more attention must be paid to the
underlying causes of drug use.

Criminals who profit from the drug trade must be dealt with by our
judicial system. People who abuse drugs need treatment or they will
likely resume their abuse following incarceration.

Treating drug abuse is less expensive than putting drug users in
prison. It holds the hope that they can break the grip drugs have on
their lives something prison doesn't offer.