EXPERTS: IS DRUG WAR WORTH THE FIGHT?

Bill Masters says he took the drug war seriously.

Masters, the sheriff of the San Miguel County, Colo., since 1979, has
done all he could to rid his community of illegal substances.

But a number of years ago Masters began to notice a problem.

"The drugs just got worse and worse," he said.

During his time in law enforcement, Masters has become an advocate for
the repeal of drug laws.

He was part of a seven-person panel Thursday night at Western Michigan
University's Bernhard Center that debated the validity of the
country's war on drugs. The event drew about 200 people.

Law enforcement should " arrest people for their crimes, not what they
put in their bodies," Masters said during the two-hour event, which
was part of WMU's Peace Week celebration.

Views from both sides were heard Thursday, including members of law
enforcement and criminal justice officials from Michigan and Kalamazoo
who support the war on drugs.

Lt. Bill Ford, commander of the Michigan State Police Southwest
Enforcement Team, said the amount of illegal substances now being
circulated on America's streets is "out of control" and their
availability has increased over the years.

"You're wrong if you think legalizing drugs will help that," Ford said.

Audience members tended to give more support to the views put forth by
panel members who spoke against drug prohibition, including Sanho
Tree, a fellow for the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington,
D.C.

Tree said the country's war on drugs has done nothing to stop the flow
of illegal drugs in the country, and instead, has made the substances
more profitable.

"Prohibition doesn't mean you control drugs. It means you lose the
ability to control drugs," said Tree. He said that about a quarter of
the 8 million people in the country currently serving prison sentences
were convicted of some sort of drug crime.

About half of those 2 million drug offenders were first-time,
nonviolent criminals, he said.

"We have to be effective rather than tough," Tree said.

The Rev. Edwin C. Sanders II, the senior minister and founder of the
Metropolitan Interdenominational Church in Nashville, Tenn., has
outreach programs in areas such as substance abuse. Sanders said
racism and racial profiling are prevalent in the justice system and
the country's fight against illegal substances.

He said blacks make up the majority of those currently serving time in
the nation's prisons and those convicted of drug offenses.

"Something is wrong with that," Sanders said. "It has everything to do
with race."

Ford and his counterparts on the panel -- Kalamazoo County Prosecutor
James Gregart and Kalamazoo County Circuit Court Judge Philip D.
Schaefer -- agreed that there is a disproportionate number of
minorities currently circulating in and out of the criminal justice
system.

However, Gregart and Schaefer said the county's drug court has been a
positive initiative that offers rehabilitation for substance abusers
rather than time behind bars.

"There is a social cost that we pay for using substances," Gregart
said. "There is a social price, an economic price, for legalizing
substances. The question is, are we willing to pay that price?" he
said.

While their views differed, the seven panelists agreed that those in
the audience could take the initiative to promote the changes they
feel are needed for the nation's drug enforcement policy.

Masters recommended that citizens speak to lawmakers and "demand that
they change the tools we work with."

"Don't put that on us," Masters said. "Make legislators make the
change."

Ford agreed.

"I'm going to remember this night for a long time," Ford said. "But I
hope 25 years from now your kids aren't in this room complaining about
this because you didn't do anything about it."