U.S. DRUG POLICY NOT WORKING

Just this week, a massive international operation sponsored by the U.S. was
completed with the capture of a powerful Colombian drug cartel leader.

The flow of illegal drugs, especially cocaine, has made Colombia especially
unpopular with the United States since it began passing and enforcing
strict narcotic control laws in the 1920s. These laws have indirectly made
some opportunistic Colombians rich but also affects the lives of innocent
Colombians. Despite the millions in U.S. foreign aid and training the
Colombians receive each year, the drug problem in Colombia and on U.S. soil
does not seem to be coming to an end.

This is because American drug policy does not address the needs of its
citizens, nor to the needs of the Colombians. Alternatives to U.S. narcotic
policy should be found to provide Colombians with other economic choices
and to provide effective treatment and prevention of drug addiction in the
U.S.

In the past, Colombia has received millions of dollars in aid with the
specific purpose of fighting narcotics production within the country. This
money has been used to buy equipment and to train Colombian police. Despite
their intentions, these millions have done little statistically to stop the
flow of illicit drugs out of Colombia into the U.S. Colombia, it is
estimated, produces 40,800 metric tons of coca leaves a year.

These crops provide the drug cartels with three-fourths of the cocaine that
is trafficked in the U.S. Cocaine provides hundreds of millions of dollars
to the Colombian cartels, who in turn can afford to buy off the very
officials and police that the U.S. aids.

Drug production in Colombia is directly linked to the consumption of
illegal drugs in other countries. The incentive U.S. laws provided for the
production of cocaine are unparalleled - it is estimated that the U.S.
policy increases the value of cocaine by 20 percent.

It is time that the U.S. takes a look at its citizenry and logically
creates policy that prevents the use, treatment and production, to stop the
demand for illegal substances in this country. Presently, for every cartel
leader caught by a multi-million dollar operation, there are thousands of
addicts who could be receiving treatment for their addictions. In this
country are 4.1 million people addicted to illicit drugs.

According to a study published by the U.S. Department of Heath and Human
Services, 1.1 million of these people are under the age of 18. Clearly, the
American addict provides the demand that is needed to keep Colombian
cartels afloat. The U.S. does very little to aid these people, besides
arresting and releasing the and, despite the strong link made between
addiction and crime by criminologists.

It is said that once a cocaine addict enters the justice system, they will
continue to be arrested annually, at taxpayer cost.

U.S. policy is not only impractical for its own people, but is harmful to
the many Colombians who do legitimate farming. U.S. frustration at policing
Colombian drug farmers has lead to the random drenching of field with
potent herbicides. These chemicals then seep in the groundwater, are
ingested by birds and animals, and make cultivation of land impossible.

Colombian farmers must then retreat farther into the dwindling amount of
rain forest, and cut trees down to raise crops. This is an inhuman
treatment of the Colombian people, and it does much to ally their sympathy
with the cartels.

Drug addiction is not a non-issue in this country. It is a noble goal for a
nation to want to rid its citizens from the evils of addiction. Drugs and
crime have been linked for years, as have drug use and abuse of all kinds.
That is why I find it so curious that the government- who has been advised
by drug-addictions specialist for years that drug treatment is the only
effective way to prevent drug consumption - would rather spend millions on
deforesting Colombia.

If the U.S. would address the addiction problems in its own country, it
would be less necessary to commit inhumane acts in supplier countries.

The government has tried its war against drugs; it is not working.