ADDICTION: Need new drug war plan

New reports on the addictive nature of marijuana, coupled with reports of a
rising use of heroin, are ominous signs this nation may be heading towards
worst drug and crime crisis in its history.

U.S. heroin use has doubled over the last decade (tripling in Denver over
the last three years alone), figures that appear to confirm research in two
new studies that marijuana ''primes'' the brain for addiction to harder drugs.

Separate studies recently released by an Italian team and an
AmericanSpanish team reached similar conclusions: Pot is a gateway drug,
more insidious than generally thought, and alters the brain chemistry in a
way that makes users more susceptible to addictions from harder drugs.

Ninety percent of harddrug users say marijuana was their first drug.
Tragically, some 10 million Americans admit to using marijuana either
regularly or occasionally (3 million of them 12 to 17yearolds), creating
a potential market for the ruthless Columbia drug cartels, which are the
largest supplier of U.S. heroin addicts.

The Columbian drug lords in recent years have increased substantially the
purity of the heroin they produce, which gets users hooked more quickly. At
$90,000 to $120,000 per kilo of heroin wholesale, compared to only $18,000
per kilo for cocaine, there is new incentive for junkies to push their
customers to the next level.

It is chilling to think what this trend portends for crime and violence on
American streets. Heroin addicts have to raise five times more money to
feed their habit than cocaine addicts, whose crimes and violence already
are a plague on many communities.

The danger to greater numbers of ordinary American citizens if there is no
turnaround in the heroin trend is illustrated by the rising number of drug
smuggling arrests made at Miami International Airport, where three to four
heroinrelated arrests of airline passengers are made each weekday, rising
to nine or 10 on Sundays.

Last year, 848 pounds of heroin were found on airline passengers, compared
to just 96 pounds five years ago, according to U.S. drug enforcement
officials.

Drug cartels threaten their smugglers with bodily harm to their families or
anyone near them if they fail to deliver the goods.

Among those ordinarylooking passengers arrested were American housewives,
some traveling with small children, who were offered $5,000 to $10,000 by
Columbia drug cartels for sneaking as little as 7 pounds of heroin worth
$2.3 million into the country. Drug agents have also arrested doctors,
lawyers, architects, school principals and judges, according to a recent
Washington Post report.

While some smuggle the drug in hollowed shoes or the lining of clothes and
luggage, some ''mules'' transport the drug in condoms, which they swallow
and eventually pass through the intestinal tract. One smuggler recently
died from a drug overdose when the condom broke before it passed through
his system.

Government leaders need to be mapping a new strategy in light of these
latest developments in the failed drug war, with the front lines in the
battle being fought closer to home than many would like to admit.

Last year, Florida officials destroyed nearly $100 million in marijuana
plants at 1,059 growth sites around the state. Duval County ranked second
only to Dade County in the number of indoor growing operations of the
gateway drug.

These developments boost support for those who advocate the kind of
government control and legalization employed in some European countries,
which has resulted in dramatic declines in drug addiction.

Before that surrender, however, the government at all levels should make
certain it has done everything that could be done to tame the scourge.