DRUG WAR CAN'T SUCCEED WITHOUT REFOCUSING

Most taxpayers may not want to hear it, but waste should not
automatically trigger the end of government funding a program of good
intention.

This is a tough argument to make, considering the recent news that
America has spent a $1 trillion fighting a losing war on drugs for the
last 40 years.

Yet there are intangibles not measured by this mis-focused effort to
alter the tremendous damaging effects of illegal drugs.

Uncounted are lives saved through drug enforcement raids and police
surveillance operations, despite the rampant street drug violence. And
the rehabilitation of hundred of thousands of users can't be ignored.

What we've done wrong amounts to a series of miscalculated efforts at
stopping the foreign production of drugs and their easy passage across
U.S. borders, while passing discriminatory sentencing laws that did
nothing to reduce the mayhem of related violence their street sales
produced.

Last week, President Obama acknowledged as much in announcing a
renewed push to control illegal drugs, with an emphasis on addiction
treatment. Health experts, sociologists and criminologists agree that
the illegal drug trade is a public health issue. As such, Mr. Obama
wants more focus on prevention and treatment of drug abuse.

But isn't that what we have been attempting for the last four
decades?

Americans need to hear more about efforts to stop funneling funds to
programs with no record of measurable success. Means testing the use
of billions ($10 billion proposed this year alone) for interdiction
and law enforcement would be a better use of federal dollars.

Eliminating mandatory sentencing laws that overcrowd our prisons with
low-level dealers is necessary.

It's time instead to refocus scarce federal resources toward
large-scale, violent traffickers and increase penalties for the worst
drug offenders. It's too early to wave the white flag. Instead, we
need the courage to rethink the approach.