CONTINUING THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS

It is a huge irony that Americans are getting a taste of the horrors
of modern warfare, not from Muslim extremists, but from the hit men
and drug runners that make up one of the most dangerous armies in the
world today, the armed soldiers of the Mexican drug cartels.

As we watch daring attacks against the legitimate government of Mexico
by armed gunmen of the Juarez and Tijuana cartels, we wonder how bad
does it have to get before someone comes up with a plan that's tough
enough to put an end to drug trafficking in the United States. More
importantly, what would that plan look like?

An important question to consider is, what does drug use in the U.S.
have to do with the outlaw drug cartels now fighting for control of
Mexico? The answer is sobering: Everything. If it were not for the
huge appetite for illegal drugs in our own country, there would be no
one to keep the drug cartels of Mexico in business.

This leads to an equally serious question that we have refused to
consider because it goes against our grain: If making drugs illegal
and imprisoning drug users and dealers doesn't work, what will work?

One solution we have consistently refused to explore is the
decriminalization of illegal drugs. It is at this critical juncture
that it is important to remember that decriminalization is not the
same as legalization. One way to understand this is to think of
smoking. It is not a crime to be a smoker. And smokers are not charged
with breaking the law when they light up a cigarette. But we all know
that smoking costs Americans billions of dollars annually in health
care costs and lost productivity.

We've responded more intelligently to tobacco than to illegal drugs by
taking steps to discourage tobacco use. We've banned smoking in public
places, charged smokers more for health insurance and taxed
cigarettes. These measures, plus a highly publicized effort to educate
people to the dangers of smoking, have led thousands to quit.

While tobacco use is legal, with the more dangerous drugs there is
room for a middle ground. While legalization would unwisely make drugs
available to all indiscriminately, decriminalization would allow
doctors to monitor drug use by addicts while erecting strong barriers
against using these drugs by those who are not addicted.

This approach would allow addicts to get drugs legally and to pursue
treatment options that would be funded by the many millions we now
spend on a losing battle of imprisoning addicts. It would also take
the lure out of dealing because drugs would be fairly priced and
humanely administered by trained medical personnel who also offer
treatment options and aftercare programs for both addicts and their
families.

We have spent more than 40 years and many billions of dollars waging a
losing battle to keep drug addicts and dealers away from each other.
It's time to admit that as long as there is a huge demand for drugs,
there will be someone willing to take almost any risk necessary to
fill that demand because the amount of money involved is staggering.

The amount is so huge that it has led Mexican drug cartels to
challenge the legitimate government of Mexico for control of the
country, one city and village and town at a time. If they're willing
to take over Juarez, a city of more than two million people, they will
not think twice about seizing control of other towns and villages
across the entire country. We may think this doesn't affect us much
more than fighting a few skirmishes along the Mexican American border.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Mexican drug cartels are now
operating in 230 American cities - that we know of. In what town in
America is it impossible to get drugs? Where can you go anymore and
not see a sign for a "drug free school zone?" American teenagers in
Texas towns bordering Mexico are being hired to assassinate people for
drug lords in Mexico. American tourists visiting border towns are
being kidnapped for exorbitant ransoms by drug runners, and the
government of Mexico has placed 9,500 army and police personnel in
Juarez to stem the violence which recently ran as high as 10 murders a
day. There is an old saying: When nothing changes, nothing changes.

This is not a moment when we can afford to stick doggedly by methods
that have proven themselves to be completely ineffective.

The drug war is one battle we need to fight in a whole new way,
starting now. We've already lost far more causalities than we have in
Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan put together. And unless we get a
handle on this soon, this is just the beginning.