STUDENTS STAGE SIT-IN AGAINST 'WAR ON DRUGS

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse sophomore Matt Edwards was a "DARE
child" who promised in elementary school never to do drugs when he grew up.

That didn't last, he said: He smoked marijuana in high school.

Drug prohibition has failed," said Jake Cox, a UW-L student and
president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. "Prohibition has
taken drugs and put them in the hands of people that want to make
money off them, regardless of a person's age."

The group held a peaceful protest on the UW-L campus Friday with the
message that America's "War on Drugs" isn't working.

The protest was the culmination of "Make Love Not Drug War Week"
organized by Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

If drugs were legalized, people likely would use less because it
would be regulated, Cox said.

La Crosse police Chief Ed Kondracki disagreed.

I don't feel we need to legalize more drugs when we know that
substance abuse is the nation's No. 1 health problem," he said.

He pointed to alcohol as an example of legal drug abuse -- about
1,400 alcohol-related deaths are reported annually among 18- to
24-year-olds, as well as 500,000 injuries, he said.

The lowest blood-alcohol level among La Crosse's river drownings was
a .20, Kondracki said, with the highest being a .42. The state's
legal limit for driving is .08.

Those people weren't suffering from lack of availability of alcohol," he said.