TOUGHER LAWS FAIL TO STEM US OF DRUGS

Increased enforcement of drug laws and stiffer penalties do not deter the
use of marijuana and other drugs, research by the American Bar Association
has found. The ABA found an 18 percent increase from 1992 to '97 in people
who used drugs within the last month even though federal funding, arrests
and incarceration rates were at all-time highs. The report, The State of
Criminal Justice, also showed nearly 80 percent of the increase in drug
arrests for those five years were for possession rather than dealing.