DRUG STATISTICS DON'T SQUARE WITH 'WAR'

With the impeachment proceedings over, and both parties anxious to get
back to work, the theme apparently is "cranking up the drug war." The
Democrats have opened the bidding with a massive 3 volume strategy,
featuring accountability.

The Republicans will insist the paltry $1.1 billion cost increase over
last year's failed program shows that the Democrats are soft on drugs.
Republicans, no doubt, have a much more expensive plan of their own.

Central to the concept of either plan is the notion that prohibited
drugs are far more dangerous than non-prohibited drugs. Actually,
prohibited drugs account for less than 1 percent of annual deaths,
about 14,000. By contrast, reactions to prescribed medications kill
100,000 Americans annually.

Alcohol, the number one most widely used mind altering substance,
plays a part in 10% of all deaths. Alcohol kills 150,000 Americans
every year.

Nicotine, more addictive than cocaine or heroin, kills over 400,000
Americans yearly. Tobacco causes more deaths than alcohol, cocaine,
heroin, homicide, suicide, car accidents, fire, and AIDS combined.

Of the illegal drugs, heroin is the big killer. Heroin will be linked
to about 4000 deaths this year, and cocaine to about 2000.

And then we have marijuana. Less addictive than coffee, and safer
than some of the foods we eat, over 600,000 Americans were arrested
last year for simply possessing it. There are no death statistics for
marijuana, as no deaths have ever been attributed to its use.

Edward Carpenter
Worcester