DRUGS MUST BE TREATED AS A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE

Dear Editor:

Re: editorial by Dan Singleton, "Drug fight must include more than just
punishment"

When it comes to drugs, mandatory minimum prison sentences are proven
failures. If harsh sentences deterred illicit drug use, Canada's
southern neighbor would be a "drug-free" America. That's not the case.
The U.S. drug war has done little other than give the former land of
the free the highest incarceration rate in the world.

The drug war is a cure worse than the disease. Drug prohibition
finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then
used to justify increased drug war spending. It's time to end this
madness and instead treat all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as
the public health problem it is.

Thanks to public education efforts, tobacco use has declined
considerably in recent years.

Apparently mandatory minimum prison sentences, civil asset forfeiture,
random drug testing and racial profiling are not necessarily the most
cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices. Drug abuse is
bad, but the drug war is worse.

Sincerely

Robert Sharpe

MPA Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington