DRUG WAR LOOKS MORE LIKE PROHIBITION

I have supported fighting illegal drugs since the war on drugs began, but
recently I began to see the futility of it. We spend ever-increasing tax
dollars here and abroad trying to reduce the supply, with no results. There
are thousands of people in jail for violating drug laws who haven't harmed
anyone but themselves, and hundreds more for violent crimes related to
selling these drugs.

Neighborhoods and even entire cities are being destroyed and innocent
people are being killed by thugs peddling drugs. Think of the neighborhoods
in Cincinnati under siege. If the drug gangs aren't eliminated, Cincinnati
could end up like Detroit, once a beautiful and prosperous city and a
desirable place to live. Drug gangs turned it into a war zone.

But the money we spend trying to eliminate the drug gangs and the source of
drugs has been wasted. For every step we take forward in this battle we
seem to take two back.

The futility of fighting the drug war is reminiscent of the battle to stop
the consumption of alcohol during the Prohibition era.

The 18th Amendment - outlawing the sale, consumption and manufacturing of
alcoholic beverages - was repealed 13 years after its enaction. It was a
total failure because the gangster element realized that the people who
wanted to drink were going to continue and a staggering sum of money could
be made if the gangsters supplied their needs.

Violence erupted when other gangsters moved in with the same idea. Big
protection money corrupted enough police and judges to close their eyes and
keep the gangsters in business.

Now we have the illegal-drug era. Deja vu.

A market can't be destroyed as long as enough people are willing to support
it and the supply of what they desire is plentiful. The criminal element
cannot be stopped with the threat of jail terms or even capital punishment
as long as the financial rewards are high enough.

Looks as if we have two choices: Get more realistic and supply the users
through government outlets and eliminate the drug wars, or continue in
futility to build enough prisons to confine the users and sellers at a cost
of millions of dollars we desperately need elsewhere.

The desire to use drugs can't be stopped by passing laws It is idealism vs.
realism. Idealism is like utopia. It may be very desirable, but it is
unobtainable.

Don Parcell is retired and lives in Cleves.