COLUMN LEFT

THE DRUG WAR CAN'T ABIDE HONEST STATS

A simplistic and dishonest approach is at the heart of the new $2-billion
anti-drug advertising campaign.

Oops, drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey made a big factual error last week,
claiming the murder rate in Holland is twice as high as that of the U.S.
because of permissive Dutch drug policies. In fact, the U.S murder rate as a
percentage of the population is 4.5 times higher than in Holland. Hey, no
problem, what good is being drug czar if you have to worry about facts? If
there's one thing we know after 20 years and billions of dollars fighting
the drug war, it's that the war will never be won with honest statistics.

McCaffrey is a retired general unencumbered by prior familiarity with the
medical aspects of drug addiction or methods of prevention and treatment. No
matter; in the doctrine of the U.S. drug war, the patient is the enemy. In
appointing this tough general to direct the U.S. Office of National Drug
Control Policy, President Clinton proved that he was as asinine on drug
policy as those who had never held a joint in their hands. Clinton scored
big politically, but the result is a continuation of a war on our own
citizens with disastrous consequences.

The Dutch have rejected the war metaphor. While drugs remain officially
illegal, they have differentiated between marijuana-which can legally be
sold in small quantities in set locations to adults-and hard drugs. Hard
drug usage is viewed primarily as a medical problem with emphasis on
treating rather than incarcerating the user. The focus is on "harm
reduction"-education, treatment, needle exchange and methadone substitution.

On his brief stopover in Holland last week, McCaffrey pointedly refused to
visit one of the Amsterdam "coffee shops" that legally sell small quantities
of pot, saying, "I am not sure there is much to be learned from watching
somebody smoking pot." How obtuse! Even the temperance fanatics of old
thought they could learn something of the evil goings-on in saloons by
occasionally inspecting one.

McCaffrey might have learned that smoking pot tends to lead to far less
aggressive behavior than drinking alcohol; that the mood in those coffee
shops is downright torpid. In fact, adolescent marijuana use is twice as
high in the U.S. as Holland. Alcohol is the main abuse problem in both
countries. I write this with a Bloody Mary near at hand and am not in favor
of banning alcohol, but the evidence is overwhelming that it's a far more
damaging drug than marijuana. In the U.S., there are more than 100,000
alcohol-related deaths a year; there is still not one officially recorded
death attributed solely to marijuana use.

Marijuana use may pose some social problems, although they're not as easily
documented as those presented by a number of legally prescribed drugs.
Lumping marijuana with illegal hard drugs is a continuing absurdity that
leads young people to distrust all anti-drug warnings. Yet this simplistic
and dishonest approach to the drug problem is at the heart of the new
$2-billion anti-drug advertising campaign McCaffrey announced last week. Why
not use that money to follow the Dutch example of honest education about the
drug problem and treatment of those who are addicted? Treating drug
addiction as a medical rather than a criminal problem works, but serious
drug treatment is only available to 10% of those in prison who need it. Yet
we continue to waste billions on failed war-fighting scenarios.

Drugs are more available than ever. Opium production has doubled in the past
decade. The only drug war "victory" has been to increase the profitability
of the illegal drug trade that now, according to United Nations statistics,
produces $400 billion in revenues, an astounding 10% of all world trade.
What madness to continue the current strategy at ever greater human and
financial cost. In 1980, we spent $4 billion fighting the drug war, and the
drug war hawks told us that was not enough. Now we spend eight times more,
and they tell us the end is not in sight.

In 1980, 50,000 Americans were in prison on drug-related charges. The figure
is now 400,000, many for personal use, making this one of the largest human
rights violations in the world. Yes, because the very idea of jailing people
on the basis of personal behavior for a victimless crime represents a basic
violation of freedom.

This is a war fought in a contradictory and racist manner aimed primarily at
the urban ghetto. Only 13% of drug users are black, but they make up far
more than a majority of those imprisoned on drug charges. These people are
in prison as sacrifices to the gods of the drug war who will not let go of
their holy crusade no matter how many lives are broken. - - -

Copyright Los Angeles Times

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett