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DRUG WAR LOST, TUCSON ATTORNEY SAYS

Ex-DEA Agent Decries Penal Nature Of Effort

Perhaps no one has been better situated to understand the border drug war
than Tucson attorney Stephen Ralls.

Born to an Anglo father and a Mexican-immigrant mother, Ralls was reared in
Douglas and Nogales, where friends knew him as "Guero" or "Whitey."

In 1974, after graduating from the University of Arizona, he became a
Douglas cop and spent five years assigned to undercover narcotics.

Then, he returned to the university as a campus police officer and law
student. Ralls passed the Bar and went to work fighting dope again, this
time as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

In 1983, faced with reassignment to Houston, Ralls chose to resign rather
than uproot his family. He became a defense lawyer in what has emerged as
one of the Southwest's most prominent firms representing smugglers.

His view 25 years later: "We've already tried the war on drugs, and
everybody on both sides will tell you it's a complete failure."

Ralls condemns a system that is obsessed with crime and punishment. U.S.
policy emphasizes more cops, mandatory sentences and bigger prisons, he
says, while little is done to quash the demand for drugs.

"There is no education for young kids," he says. "There are no signature
programs for people who use drugs."

For every smuggler behind bars, Ralls says, "there are probably 10 people
like him waiting."

"They will keep arresting people," he adds, "and the quantity will go up. .
. . There's such a great demand for drugs in this country. We talk about
decertifying Mexico because of its inability to wage a successful war
against drugs. Who decertifies the United States?"

Ralls, who has represented many drug defendants accused of smuggling more
than 2,000 pounds of pot, says his role is crucial in a justice system that
is tainted with discrimination.

He says that some drug agents target Hispanics and that prosecutors are
more likely to cut plea agreements with Anglos.

"I think the Hispanic is treated differently," he says. "The Anglo will get
a lighter sentence."

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