THE ORANGE GROVE: TIME TO WAVE A WHITE FLAG IN THE DRUG WAR

For all the billions spent to curtail drug usage in this country,the
results have been paltry and disastrous for our freedom.

The time has come to call a truce in the ceaseless War on Drugs. Instead,
it seems the war is being futilely escalated.Coincidentally, the Justice
Department announced last week that the U.S. prison population has
increased to an all-time hih of 1.25 million, one fourth of the inmates
held on drug crimes. This report coincides with a column by U.S. drug czar
Gen Barry McCaffrey in several newspapers last week critical of people who
want to debate the alternative of legalizing some drugs.

Let me first say that I do not advocate drug use. There is no question that
drug abuse is a scourge on society. But, after 25 years, it is time to take
a serious look at the strategy we have been using to combat this problem.
When McCaffrey says it is criminal that more money is being spent on drugs
and the drug war than on art or higher education he raises an interesting
point.

What results can the government show for the hundreds of billions of
Taxpayers' dollars spent? Each year the money has been wasted on the same
failed approach of increasing interdiction efforts, law enforcement
resources and prisons to incarcerate hundreds of thousands of our citizens,
most of whom pose no danger to society.

As is the case with other government programs, such as welfare and public
education, when something doesn't work, the solution seems to be to just
throw more money at the problem. Instead of perhaps spending the money on
practical and humanitatian solutions, such as drug treatment, heroin
maintenance and needle-exchange programs, McCaffrey proposes to spend more
money on hiring more police and for more propaganda, deceptively implying
that we have now gained the upper hand in this war.

McCaffrey asserts that "addictive drugs were criminalized because they are
harmful; they are not harmful because they were criminalized. The more a
product is available and legitimized the greater will be its use."
Apparently, he - and we - haven't learned any lessons from Prohibition as
we continue to repeat our mistakes. Drug use and crime increased at the
same time that anti-drug funding increased and drug laws were toughened.

Evidence shows that making certain acts illegal leads to more harm to the
community. Making a desired commodity illegal only serves to make that
commodity scarce, drive up its price and make it more lucrative for
criminals to get involved.

Most important, though, the War on Drugs is robbing us of our freedom.
People accused or even suspected of dealing drugs have had their civil
rights violated. Assets have been seized and sold before a trial has even
taken place.

Many people argue that this is a small price to pay to protect our children
and to send them the message that drugs are bad. But children are not
listening to this anti-drug propaganda. Tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and
other drugs were abused when Bill Clinton was smoking pot as a college
student in the '60s and they are just as popular with teen-agers today.

I am offended by McCaffrey's attack on harm-reduction advocates. When he
equates legalizing drugs to legalizing murder, pedophilia and child
prostitution, he misses the point. In a free society, the state should have
no interest in the behavior of a person as long as he is not harming or
infringing on the rights of another. In the case of murder, pedophilia and
child prostitution, harm is most certainly being inflicted on another. To
put it bluntly, unless someone's rights are being infringed on the
government needs to butt out of people's private lives.

It is now time to make a decision. If this is truly a "war," the only
effective action the government can take at this point is to invoke the
death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone caught selling or using
drugs. This is the drug policy in some Third-World countries. Most
Americans would not want to live in such a country.

We shouldn't have an immediate knee-jerk reaction whenever we hear the word
"legalization" or "decriminalization." Most Americans oppose legalization
because they have been told by both the government and moralists for years
that if drugs were legalized we would see a tremendous increase in drug
addiction, thus leading to more crime, lost productivity and a huge
financial drain on our economy. But there is no proof that this will
happen. Like alcohol during post-Prohibition and marijuana in the
Netherlands today, use of drugs may increase, but only in the short term.
As with alcohol today, some people will abuse new decriminalized drugs, but
rational people will realize that they cannot succeed in school, hold down
a job or keep together relationships if they are constantly stoned.
Responsible people will choose to limit their use or abstain totally.

With legalization, consumers will be able to purchase their drugs in a
controlled setting where safety won't be able to purchase their drugs in a
controlled setting where safety won't be compromised. The government may
place limited regulations on the market, as it currently does with
medications and alcohol. Taxpayers will be saving billions of dollars a
year that had previously been spent on prosecuting drug users.

More and more people are beginning to wake up and see the futility of the
current "war." What have 25 years of money and effort accomplished?

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)