ANOTHER BAD STRATEGY IN THE DRUG WAR

Turning Pot Users Into Felons Won't Help Them Or Us

As other parts of the nation begin questioning -- and rightly so -- the
``lock 'em up and throw away the kilo'' approach to fighting the War on
Drugs, the Kentucky Criminal Justice Council wants to see more people do
more time for trafficking in smaller quantities of marijuana.

If the panel's recommendations become law, the sale of 2 ounces of pot
would become a felony. Currently, selling less than 8 ounces of marijuana
is a misdemeanor. The council also wants to create a state Office of Drug
Control Policy -- a drug czar, if you will.

We would feel much more optimistic if this panel had worried less about
incarceration and more about treatment, if it had given less priority to
having Kentucky's very own drug czar and more priority to drug courts and
other innovative approaches to ending the scourge of drug addiction.

Drug use is down across the nation. According to a recent Newsweek story,
10 million fewer Americans are using drugs today than in 1985.

Some might attribute this decline to the tough tactics, including stiff
prison sentences, applied in the War on Drugs. But that's a doubtful
premise. Even the national drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, says ``we cannot
arrest our way out of the problem.''

Incarceration comes with precious little treatment these days; and
treatment, though often fallible, is still the best way to win this war. A
California study cited by Newsweek found that every $1 spent on treatment
saved $7 in hospital admissions and law enforcement costs.

Maybe that's why other states are toning down the ``get tough'' talk and
showing more compassion to non-violent drug offenders. That includes
low-level traffickers, who are themselves often addicted.

We see some of that in Kentucky. The state now has five ``drug courts,''
with 13 more on the way. These courts stress rehabilitation rather than
incarceration. The drug courts will see their share of failures, but they
are also producing the kind of glowing success stories you aren't apt to
find among non-violent drug offenders who are hustled off to prison.

As a state, and a nation, we've hustled thousands of these folks into cells
during the last couple of decades. We keep building and filling new
prisons, and a lot of it is due to the influx of drug offenders. It hasn't
worked, though. We haven't won the War on Drugs, and we won't win it by
filling more prison beds with folks who sell 2 ounces of marijuana.

The new most powerful man in the state Senate, Republican Floor Leader
David Williams, who also happens to be chairman of the crime council's Drug
Strategy Committee, says the proposals reflect Kentuckians' concern for the
seriousness of the drug problem.

It is a serious problem -- a very serious problem. If you don't believe it
just look to our streets, our schoolyards, our courts and our jails. But
solving the problem requires more than finding new ways to imprison
non-violent drug offenders. It requires treating the addiction.