ATTACK PLAN FOR DRUG WAR IS IDEALISTIC

As heartbreaking as it is that police mistakenly shot 92-year-old
Kathryn Johnston in a drug raid, we must realize that this is a freak
accident, not the norm.

In response to this tragedy, Andrew Muchmore proposed reform to the
war on drugs in his column on Wednesday. While his idealistic
suggestions of "addiction treatment, education and economic
opportunity" sound nice in theory, in reality they are impractical
and ineffective.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has already made drug treatment
programs available to eligible inmates. Sadly, of the inmates who do
opt for treatment, 20 percent will go back to drugs just six months
later. As far as treatment, education and jobs go, they will never be
effective unless drug offenders want to be helped. I'd even venture
to say that a pretty large handful of drug offenders currently in
prison are fully aware of both the moral and physical implications of
drugs and may even have participated in a treatment program before.

Another interesting fact -- 60 to 83 percent of inmates have used
drugs. Our prisons may be crowded with drug offenders, but people who
use drugs are more likely to commit serious crimes. Incarcerating
drug offenders is good preventative medicine.

Also, why is a drug dealer going to try to work to his way up from
the bottom via some menial "economic opportunity" or try to compete
in a job market when there is much more money to be made selling
drugs? I knew a drug dealer who had a well-paying job, a nice house,
children, etc. but opted to sell drugs for a living instead. Why? It's easier.

My little brother's friend died a month and a half ago of a drug
overdose. He'd been in a treatment program before, attended school
and even had a job this past summer. No one could have saved my
brother's friend.

I have encountered firsthand what happens when drug dealers
manipulate children. Do you know the shock that goes through your
body when your little brother tells you that he does not remember the
past month of his life because he was high for the duration of it?

The cops are doing the best they can, and starting at the source of
the problem (i.e. busting down the door of a house where a drug deal
allegedly took place) is the only way to have a fighting chance in
the war against drugs.

You know, it is a cycle -- the dealers get hold of the kids, the kids
get hooked, they see there's money to be made in selling their
newfound toy and they keep doing it into adulthood if they don't get
off drugs or caught.

The best we can do is to find a way to get the offenders off the
streets and away from those who are still very impressionable.

My little brother's innocence has already been taken away from him,
but if busting down a dealer's door means my stepsisters will not get
involved in drugs, then let the cops carry on!