POLICING APPROACH TO DRUG TRADE HAS FAILED

A new study is providing fresh ammunition for those, including this
newspaper, who have argued that policy-makers should be giving more
serious consideration to ending the war on drugs.

The findings released Tuesday by the Vancouver-based International
Centre for Science in Drug Policy flowed from a review of dozens of
academic papers over several decades that examined the impact of
increased policing on the drug trade. The conclusions? Our current
approach is a failure.

Time and again, researchers found that a get-tough approach to drugs
resulted in increased levels of violence, gun crime, murders, higher
profits for organized crime and even the instability of nations. In
addition, the increased popularity of mandatory minimum sentences and
three-strikes laws in some jurisdictions has resulted in the
incarceration of huge numbers of people at massive cost to taxpayers.

A heavy-handed policing approach might be worth it if we were getting
results. But the study finds the opposite: cheaper, purer drugs and
no real reduction in drug use or supply.

The report's author, University of B.C. medical Prof. Dr. Evan Wood,
say it was beyond the scope of its research to "support or oppose"
alternative drug policies, such as decriminalization, although they
say those should be examined. But you'd have to be smoking something
not to realize that our current methods aren't working, are costing
us a fortune and new drug policies must be considered.

What do you think? Email a brief comment, including your name and
town to: provletters@theprovince.com