CHANGE THE STRATEGY

In 1972 while the Vietnam War was being fought in Southeast Asia and
on the streets of America, President Richard Nixon's administration
launched a new war - the war on drugs.

The United States failed to win the Vietnam War. This nation's 28-year
battle against drugs continues to escalate with no likelihood of
victory in the foreseeable future.

Congressional and administrative tactics used to eradicate this
nation's illegal drug habit have gained no ground.

Actually, drugs are more available and used by more Americans today
than when the battle cry was first raised nearly three decades ago.

It's time for Congress members and administration officials who
persist in calling their anti-drug efforts a war to admit that their
battle tactics have resulted in 28 years of failures. It's time for a
change in tactics.

Regrettably, Congress has just ordered a megadose of the same tactics
when it authorized an open-ended U.S. military commitment to get
involved in Colombia's decades-old civil war.

This military commitment to support Colombia's shaky government
resembles the open-ended 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution that steadily
drew the United States deeper into the Vietnam War.

The legislation authorizes $1.3 billion to train and equip Colombia's
military forces who are battling leftist guerrillas, right-wing
guerrillas and narco-guerrillas. The Colombian government has been
battling various guerrilla factions in a civil war that has continued
for 38 years.

The bill also provides for the United States to send 300 civilian
contractors, lots of military helicopters and 500 military pilots and
advisers to Colombia to battle cocaine plants and narco-traffickers.
Sound familiar?

Just as Vietnam had Agent Orange, Congress has authorized the use of a
brand new fungal herbicide to spray Colombian coca plants. This
decision likely violates international biological warfare conventions
and certainly endangers the environment and health of Colombian peasants.

As long as American citizens demand illegal drugs, the drugs will find
a way from the suppliers to the customers. That's a proven fact that
has a multibillion-dollar, 28-year track record.

The United States has 2 million citizens in prison, by far the highest
proportion of the adult population of any nation on earth. Most of
these prisoners are behind bars due to drug use.

It's time to change tactics. Colombia's coca fields would dry up on
their own if the United States curbed its drug habit.

The same amount of effort that has gone into fighting drug supplies
should be put into eliminating the demand for drugs.

Besides treatment programs, more should be done to prevent drug use
through education, job training and other avenues of opportunity that
turn people away from drugs.

Escalation of failed tactics accelerates failure.