If we remove criminal drug laws from the books, will drug use increase?
Almost certainly it will. At least in the short run. So what? Under our
current policies, drug use and abuse is exploding. If we remove criminal
drug laws from the books, will drug abuse increase? That's less certain.
Use doesn't equal abuse. Most people prone to abusing drugs are currently
abusing drugs.

But if we pass Initiative 685, surely the worst of the drug problem will go
away. Distributing drugs through medical channels and other lawful business
enterprises will dramatically reduce drug-related crime because lawful
businesses don't attract customers and increase market share using
automatic weapons. Cheaper prices and wider availability will reduce the
need to rob others for drug money or drugs. Reduced profits will shrink the
incentive to "push" drugs.

Opponents of I-685 need to address the death of (Pierce County sheriff's
deputy) John Bananola. Whatever criticism can be leveled at the procedure
and tactics employed by the police in that case, the fact is that Officer
Bananola was killed enforcing the law against possession of marijuana. A
serious commitment to enforcing the current law means precisely more such
"busts" and more such deaths, because that's fundamentally what the police
were doing when they raided the Eggleston home - enforcing the current drug
laws. These deaths are simply not justified.

Current drug policy is seductive; according to conservative doctrine, all
that is required to totally eliminate drug use is more police, more money,
more jails, more effort by government. Sadly, total elimination of drug use
in a basically free society is fantasy. We have billions and billions of
dollars of proof.

If the goal is to minimize the problem rather than pursuing the fantasy of
eliminating use, then alternatives to the present failed policies have to
be tried. The time has come to turn the problem over to health-care
professionals, churches and families, rather than the Legislature and police.

J.S. Mills
Tacoma, WA