NEW DIRECTION NEEDED IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

A frequently seen anti-drug campaign features an image of a marijuana
leaf overlaid with the message, "If you're not telling them no, you're
telling them yes."

The campaign refers to parents as the anti-drug.

The campaign is clever and sends an important message that parents
should not abdicate their responsibility to help their children make
good choices in life.

As a recent Associated Press story noted, such campaigns have been
ongoing for the past 40 years as part of the nation's war on drugs.
That war has cost the U.S. an estimated $1 trillion dollars.

Efforts to stop the trafficking of drugs have cost the lives of
numerous agents.

But the consensus is that the war on drugs has been a colossal
failure.

Not that it isn't a war worth fighting, but the tactics of "Just Say
No" and funding military operations to knock out drug cartels south of
the U.S. border haven't stopped the national appetite for drugs.

In those countries, as in inner-city areas of the U.S., if a drug
supplier is taken out, dozens of others are waiting in the wings to
fill the void and supply what so many in our nation seem to desire.

If there's such a demand, there's also an enormous profit and there
are plenty of people willing to take the risks to try to make that
profit.

As we've said on this page before, we don't remove all blame from
other countries' authorities, but the United States needs to address
the problem on our side of the border as well. The demand, after all,
creates the supply and its problems.

Perhaps, as President Barack Obama has suggested, the time has come to
couple law enforcement with a greater priority on prevention and
treatment for drug abusers.

If by some chance the demand can be reduced, the suppliers will be
easier to deal with. If there is less of a profit to be made, fewer
people will be willing to take the risks that could end with them in
prison for life or even dead.

Instead of clever slogans and a wink over whether or not someone
inhaled, it's time to get serious about education of those at risk for
drug abuse and treatment for abusers.

An adjustment in tactics could just make a difference in the war on
drugs.