DRUG WAR LITTLE MORE THAN A JOBS PROGRAM

My hat's off to Rep. Antonio Cabral, D-New Bedford, for again introducing
legislation requiring that 20 percent of drug forfeiture assets be used for
programs to treat and prevent drug addiction.

Every credible study shows that money spent on education and treatment is
seven to 10 times more effective than incarceration in reducing the harms of
substance abuse.

What is not surprising is the opposition to the bill by police and
prosecutors like Bristol County District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. The drug
war has become a jobs program for police, prosecutors and the rest of the
drug warrior bureaucracy. They need the money to perpetuate their positions
and keep the bureaucracy growing.

The real crime about drugs and the war on some drugs (alcohol and tobacco
excluded) is that the goal doesn't seem to be to reduce the harm of
substance abuse to the user and society, as one would expect. Rather, it is
about money, budgets, jobs and political posturing.

If we were really concerned about stemming the tide of illicit drug abuse,
we would be spending the great majority of our precious fiscal resources on
education and treatment, instead of the failed policies and programs of
prohibition and incarceration. Until the drug war becomes something other
than a jobs program, that goal is not likely to be realized.

RICHARD D. ELRICK, Attorney, Hyannis