HOW TO WIN THE WAR ON DRUGS

WASHINGTON -- We must fight the Drug War or surrender. Surrender would be
the legalization of drugs, which is simply the acknowledgement by government
that individuals are responsible for what they consume or inject into their
own bodies. On the other hand, drugs are poison, and if it is a poison we
wish to eliminate, then we had better accept the idea that we are fighting a
losing war.

And make no mistake, the Drug War is here, not in the endless jungles of
South America. The front lines of the Drug War are in America's inner
cities. It is an urban war, not a jungle war, and our resources should be
allocated accordingly.

Whereas a 50,000-man expeditionary force could not begin to search and hold
the vast jungle areas of the drug-producing countries, a million-man force
might be able to do so -- but at what cost in lives and money? In short, the
conquest of the producers and the occupation of their lands are not viable
objectives, at least not until the criminals have been separated from the
populace. First a wedge must be driven between them, and that wedge is the
absence of money.

It is on the demand front, not the supply front, upon which the primary
battles must be waged, and two tools are required: education and
governmental presence (the second being a prerequisite for the first). After
all, how much drug buying, selling and using can go on when policemen are
standing on every other street corner?

Presence -- the implied threat of force rather than the actual use of force
- -- is the key. Just as a military presence provided a deterrence in the Cold
War, so such a presence can provide deterrence in the Drug War.

Consider, for example, the deterrence factor that would be provided by 2,000
additional policemen in each of 100 American cities. That is only 200,000
officers. It would be a force sufficient to do the job, to overawe drug
users and pushers alike. Combined with existing police forces, these 200,000
reinforcements would appear overwhelming, thereby making confrontations less
likely and casualties accordingly few.

This would not be tantamount to martial law, nor would any rights be
suspended. It would simply be the reinforcing of America's law enforcement
personnel, which currently only number approximately one officer on duty for
every 2,000 citizens. The police of America are simply outnumbered.

Rather than fighting a jungle war against an enemy whose lines of retreat
are virtually unending, the war needs to be fought in the finite jungles of
America's cities, where reinforced police forces can transform the war into
a pacification effort.

Pacify the cities, and the problem in the suburbs will wither away.
Interdiction of the demand end of the chain will dry up the money that
drives the drug cartels. And the absence of money will quickly erode their
support among the thousands of people employed in the harvest,
transportation and processing of the poison.

But reverse the procedure, make war against the supply side of the problem,
and the war will be lost -- and at a terribly high price.