THE WAR ON DRUGS - AN ABSURD FAILURE

If Robert Downey Jr. ever committed a violent crime, it's never been
mentioned in the press.

If he ever held up anyone, mugged an old man or, even, sold drugs, it
has never been reported.

What he did is violate his probation after pleading guilty three years
ago to drug possession and having a concealed weapon in his car. He
can't stay clean--and for that he's going to jail. The judge gave him
three years. Some time ago, Downey lost control of his life. Fix by
fix, he has been going about the process of dismantling it. He has
lost his wife, his child --and now his livelihood and freedom.

He should be in a hospital.

He should be receiving treatment.

He is not, as you and I know the term, a criminal. What is he doing in
jail? In fairness to the judge, Lawrence Mira, Downey has been in six
drug treatment programs--and flunked them all. He violated parole three
times by failing to submit to drug testing, although this time around,
Downey said he was determined to remain drug free. The judge, in
effect, scoffed--and who can blame him? But what other addiction is
punishable by jail? We don't send alcoholics to prison unless they
kill someone.

And yet about 28,000 people die annually from cirrhosis of the liver
and 17 000 more people are killed in alcohol related traffic
accidents. In his recent book 93The Fix," Michael Massing argues for a
return to the Nixon era drug policy in which treatment, not
incarceration, was emphasized. That policy, not wholly effective and
not as telegenic as drug busts, has since been de emphasized. Yet no
one can write the phrase war on drugs" without following it with the
word 93failure." We are engaged in a nasty little drug war in Colombia.
We imprison people for using marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Our prisons hold 300,000 drug offenders (many for mere possession) and
the federal government alone spends some $2 billion annually just to
house them. We are doing something wrong. The problem is not the
purported immorality of the occasional user or the marijuana smoker,
but the addict and the social wreckage he does. This is the sort of
person who needs treatment, not jail--although his dealer is a
different story altogether. Both the criminal justice and the public
health approaches are valid.

We just have to get the proportions right: treat addicts, imprison
dealers and decriminalize drugs such as marijuana.

As with alcohol, most people can use it with impunity. Most hard core
users are poor, often minority group members.

But Downey serves a purpose.

Because of his celebrity, this smiling actor, this sweet man who
appropriately played Charlie Chaplin, can personify the absurdity and
cruelty of our national drug policy.

He's gone to prison--a criminal whose only victim is
himself.