LEGALIZING DRUGS CAN HELP US GET CONTROL

The struggle against drug trafficking and drug addiction never has received
wholehearted support from our body politic.

Educators, industrialists, physicians and religious leaders probably are
more opposed to the use of life-impairing drugs than are most families,
which cherish the illusion that narcotics never will reach them.

The federal government, with its misconceptions about drugs' potential to
destroy lives and its lateness in recognizing adolescents' vulnerability,
has preferred to conduct its attack on drugs feebly and intermittently.

First, the government's efforts were labeled as a "fight," then a "crusade"
and finally, when those titles didn't work, a "war" against drugs.

After others failed to get the respect of drug lords, the administration in
Washington appointed a retired general to lead the war against drugs.

At the present rate, it is likely that a team consisting of the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of defense and the secretary of
state will deal with drug traffickers who have made billions from the
free-enterprise system.

Drug dealers have followed the basic rules of the capitalist system, turning
the narcotics trade into the dominant economic force in many nations. It is
so obvious that the best way of reducing the drug trade is taking the profit
out of it.

The eradication of the drug trade may lie in a completely fresh strategy:
Eliminate the profit by legalizing all drug products. Drugs would be sold
solely at government-operated shops through prescriptions from physicians.

One thing is certain: The drug business won't evaporate by wishing and
hoping. It will dry up when the business no longer is profitable.

If the public wants alternative methods of regulation to those brought forth
by the groups that advocate the legalization of drugs, let those ideas be
discussed and debated.

And let retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, our drug czar, continue with his
efforts, despite the fact that the volume of drugs is reported to have
reached an all-time high.

But the president should establish a panel of distinguished citizens to make
a study of all the ideas presented and issue a recommendation to the nation.

We all will feel better if the solution comes from the public. It may take
three or four years to accomplish, but we already have wasted more than that
amount of time.

After all, we need to leave a bequest to our successors in the 21st
century - a legacy by which the 20th century may be fairly judged.