IT'S TIME WE ADMIT DRUG WAR A FAILURE

Perhaps, if what's happened in Harris County since Saturday still isn't
enough to convince us to make some changes, we could agree on some numbers
that would be.

By the most recent count available when I was writing this, unregulated
illegal drugs had killed up to 15 people here since Saturday. This number
made news because it is so much larger than the two or three deaths that
occur on an average weekend in Harris County due to unregulated illegal drugs.

While we surely agree that is an alarming number, it likely will not be a
sufficiently convincing one. Consider these drug war casualty figures from
the government: A total of 11,651 deaths related to drug abuse were
reported in 1999 by 139 medical examiners in 40 metropolitan areas.

One of those who died locally a few days ago after taking unregulated drugs
was a 16-year-old girl. Her entire life was lived during our nation's
ever-escalating drug war. Yet her life came to an end so abruptly and
prematurely because the war has failed. Drugs available from criminal
dealers remain plentiful, and easily obtainable, and totally free of
requirements regarding purity or strength.

The Numbers Don't Lie

I hear from many people who believe that anyone who
takes unregulated drugs deserves whatever happens to them as a result.
After all, people know the dangers when they choose to take drugs. If one
of them dies as a result, I've heard hard-liners say, that's one less
druggie adding to the problem.

Every time someone makes such a cold comment, I wonder whether they are
aware of the huge numbers involved, the number of people at risk.

Here is another statistic from the government: In 1999, some 88 million
Americans age 12 or older reported using an illicit drug at least once.
That is 40 percent of the population. It doesn't matter how straight you
are, that is almost certain to include some people you know, some friends,
some family members.

All these years we've fought the drug war and yet in 1997, almost one-third
of all high school students (grades 9-12) reported that someone had
offered, sold or given them an illegal drug on school property. This was up
from the one-quarter of the student body that reported drugs available on
school property in 1993.

That is losing.

Government drug war officials like to provide us with numbers about their
busts and seizures. Wednesday's paper, which had a front-page update story
about the weekend surge in Harris County drug deaths, also carried, on an
inside page, a small item about the U.S. Coast Guard grabbing 9 tons of
cocaine worth $270 million off a fishing boat in international waters off
Colombia's Pacific coast.

But if we look at other numbers, such as those drug deaths and the
increased availability of drugs at schools, it's obvious that the busts and
seizures haven't amounted to squat in the big picture. Losing an occasional
shipment to the authorities is simply a cost of doing business for the big
dealers. Drugs remain plentiful in Houston, obviously.

Throwing Money Away

For people who aren't convinced by lost lives, let's look at some dollar
figures: The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that federal
spending on drug control programs has increased from $1.5 billion in fiscal
year 1981 to $19.2 billion (estimated) in fiscal year 2001.

That's just the feds' part of funding the drug war. States and counties and
cities are spending many billions more.

So how much money and how many lives are we willing to lose before we say
enough, let's try something else? Something like ending the government's
drug war and concentrating on doctors and psychologists to treat those who
abuse drugs. Something like regulating currently illegal drugs the way we
started regulating alcohol to do away with bootleggers and eliminate
poisonous hooch.

Won't someone in authority please start negotiations to set some limits?
Some of us in Harris County would like to know when we could look for some
changes.

If 14 deaths in one weekend aren't enough, how many will it take?