ZERO TOLERANCE AMOUNTS TO NOTHING

In response to your July 10 editorial, how effective can drug courts be when
they rely upon coercion?

In order for treatment to be truly effective - and not necessarily preceded
by an arrest - legislators like Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., are going to
have to tone down the "zero tolerance" rhetoric of the drug war. Zero
tolerance attitudes discourage the type of honest discussion necessary to
facilitate treatment.

Driving illicit drug addiction underground is counterproductive and only
compounds the problem. Would alcoholics attend AA meetings if confessing to
their illness was tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Increased
treatment options like drug courts are a step in the right direction, but
until peace is declared in the failed drug war, the success of treatment
will be limited.

Peace is precisely what New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is advocating. His
calls for marijuana legalization are not as illogical as one might think.
Current drug policy is effectively a gateway drug policy. While there is
nothing inherent in the marijuana plant that compels users to try harder
drugs; its black market status puts users in contact with the criminals who
push them.

Equally disturbing is the manner in which children have an easier time
purchasing marijuana than beer. Drug dealers don't ID for age. As long as
marijuana remains illegal, the established criminal distribution network
will ensure that children sample every new poison concocted by drug pushers.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than alcohol, why not end marijuana
prohibition? The answer, of course, is culture. The marijuana leaf
represents the counterculture to those Americans who would like to turn the
clock back to the 1950s.

This misguided culture war has gone on long enough.

As counter-intuitive as it may seem, legalizing marijuana would both limit
access and separate it from the hard drug markets which serve to introduce
youth to the truly deadly drugs.

Robert Sharpe, Students for Sensible Drug Policy
George Washington University, Washington, D.C.