PROF SUGGESTS SOLUTION TO DRUGS: LEGALIZATION

The war on drugs is a failure, so why not legalize them, asks a
criminal-justice professor.

It is not the sentiment one might expect from a Louisiana College associate
professor. However, that is just what Bill W. Shaw recently asked fellow
Libertarian Party members.

There was no shock and awe over Shaw's verbal attack on the war launched
during President Ronald Reagan's administration. After all, the party has
long held an antiprohibition stance on drugs.

"Clinton said, 'I didn't inhale.' George W. won't really tell us the drugs
he took, but says 'I can pass an FBI test because I haven't used after age
28'," Shaw said. "There's a whole bunch of people who use drugs and are
functioning members of society.

"What the war on drugs has done is to create a culture of systemic crime, a
race war and international enemies for the United States."

Shaw believes lifting prohibition would lead to the end of a black-market
system responsible for lost lives, jobs and morale.

He pointed to the high number of prisoners for nonviolent crimes in
overcrowded prisons and the relatively low number of homicidal incidents
directly related to drug use.

"Poor addicts do not make up the majority of drug buyers," Shaw said. "It's
young, upwardly mobile people. You see guys on street corners handing out
bags to people in BMWs on Friday nights.

"And there's the health factor. Let's give people a choice. Let's educate
people on the dangers of drugs. If drugs are illegal, we can't control the
quality. If they're decriminalized, we can control that."

State social worker Brooke Crouse is a Lone Pine resident and a Libertarian
Party member who agrees with Shaw's words.

"People are dying for drugs all the time," Crouse said. "Our prisons are
completely full by people who are nonviolent. It's not a victimless crime,
but it's a choice you should have the right to make. You shouldn't be
arrested for it. They should be more concerned with the rape and murder
that's going on."

Shaw also mentioned popular drug use myths, such as LSD causes cranial
damage and drugs automatically make the user "crazy" or "schizophrenic."
While he said he is not "100 percent sure" legalization here would have the
same successful impact it has had in the Netherlands, where drugs have been
legal for years, the current effects of prohibition here are worse than any
legalization alternative.

Not so, says Rapides Parish Juvenile Probation Director Larry Spottsville,
who is not Libertarian and did not attend the event in which Shaw detailed
his beliefs.

Drug legalization will erode the moral fiber of the community, Spottsville
said.

"There's got to be another solution," Spottsville said. "The fabric of
society would be further deteriorated. It's like saying, 'OK, go on, and do
your thing. We don't care.' (Libertarians) aren't looking at this as a
moral issue. There's nothing good about drugs, unless they are prescribed.
You're talking about something ... that would bring down the community."

Brent Sanders is a 25-year-old Louisiana College senior sociology major who
studies constitutional law. Sanders, who heads LC's Libertarian student
organization, ran for and lost a bid for the 38th District House of
Representatives seat.

"Lots of people are afraid that if you legalize drugs, everyone's just
going to go out and get high," Sanders said. "I ask them, 'If they legalize
heroine tomorrow, will you go out tomorrow and get some'? The answer is 'No.'

Brent considers to be hypocritical TV advertisements furnished by the
federal government that convey the message that buying drugs helps
financially support terrorists.

"The Libertarian Party ran some of our own that said, 'Fight Terrorism -
Grow Pot,'" he said.

Though he has not received any threatening verbal attacks for his stance,
he has noticed the disapproving stares of students who do not share his
view. He also realizes that chances are, their antilegalization stance
probably will win out over his prolegalization stance.

But he'll continue to get his points across.

"My first guess is, no, there's not a chance this will ever happen," Shaw
said. "Those who are for prohibition, I tell them, 'Relax. Don't get
nervous. It ain't going to happen.'"

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