MORE THAN ARRESTS NEEDED IN DRUG WAR

As the aftermath of Project Scoop shows, arresting drug dealers isn't the
only answer. Treatment and rehabilitation centres for addicts and heavy
sentences for profiteers are also necessary.

In mid-October Vancouver police put the arm on more than 70 alleged crack
cocaine dealers, mostly in the Downtown Eastside, during Project Scoop.

In terms of the local war on drugs it was presented as a well-planned,
coordinated assault, something like the Normandy invasion but with fewer
boats.

But Vancouver Sun stories by reporter Chad Skelton assessing the impact of
the operation two months later give a different impression.

So far only nine people have been convicted. About half of those caught by
Project Scoop will not even reach court before summer, possibly fall; of
those, five have already been rearrested on similar charges. Of those
sentenced most received terms of less than six weeks.

The Normandy comparison might be apt, but only if the Allies had swarmed
from their landing craft, stormed the beach and given the enemy a real
talking to.

Granted that the outcome is somewhat underwhelming -- through no failing of
the police officers involved -- the operation served a purpose.

For one, we should now be aware of the frustration of police officers who
pursue and arrest drug dealers with no real results -- two of those
convicted received one day in jail for selling crack, two no jail time at all.

And police made a distinction in describing their targets in the operation.
Almost all are criminals exploiting a captive market -- not addicts who
resorted to dealing drugs to support their own addiction.

Prison is a good place for criminals. In New York, where the Rudolph
Guiliani administration inherited the same drug and crime problems we now
see in the Downtown Eastside, crime has been reduced to levels unseen since
the mid-'60s. The police commissioner credits their success in large part
to coordinated anti-drug efforts in all five boroughs where undercover
officers concentrate on busting drug dealers. The difference is that in New
York they are likely to receive significant jail sentences.

But we should also learn what the U.S. learned in its war on drugs during
the last 16 years: Prison alone is not sufficient. A study of U.S. drug
strategy shows treatment is seven times more cost-effective than
enforcement and during the early 1970s rehabilitation had been
spectacularly successful in reducing addiction and crime. But in the 1980s,
that money was redirected almost entirely to enforcement, still U.S.
federal policy. The cost rose from $1 billion US to $16 billion and jailed
drug offenders increased from 30,000 to 300,000.

The lesson is that addicts need treatment and criminals need jailing. Fight
the war on both fronts, or else negotiate the terms of surrender.

Checked-by: Richard Lake