RED RIBBONS AND RED INK AND RED FACES

Drugs are killing us.

We have been unable to either stop the supply or squelch the
demand.

We deal with dealers and users alike with incarceration rather than
interdiction and rehabilitation.

With the best of intentions we promote programs such as Red Ribbon
Week at the end of each October to try to steer children away from
drug use and abuse.

Yet drug-related crimes are the number one reason Mississippians wind
up behind bars, and as of Oct. 9, the Mississippi Department of
Corrections - at a cost to taxpayers of more than $350 million a year
- - had 21,006 people in some form of custody.

The influence of drugs on the prison population does not surprise Don
Cabana, warden at the Harrison County jail and former superintendent
of the Mississippi State Penitentiary.

"I'd have been surprised by anything else," Cabana said. "I think most
people think these places are filled with people who commit murder or
rape or armed robberies. We've been fighting this so-called war on
drugs for three-plus decades now, and honestly, I don't think we are
any better off today than we were then."

How is that possible?

Americans should be red-faced with both shame and anger that decades
of trying to lessen the destructive use of drugs have resulted in so
little success and so much failure.

Efforts such as Red Ribbon Week are commendable. And Drug Courts are a
significant development in giving drug offenders an alternative to
incarceration.

But for those who succumb to illegal drug use and abuse and then turn
to crime to support their habit, something more, or rather, something
different must be tried.

Again, Warden Cabana: "Except for violent crimes of passion, the vast
majority of crimes are drug connected. It's everywhere you turn. It's
indicative of our society today. We feed off of feeling good, getting high
to escape reality or to avoid dealing with everyday life. We may be the most
indulgent society in recent history."

But how much longer can society indulge such behavior?

Gov. Haley Barbour is again calling for "cost-cutting ideas" from
state agencies to trim as much as 15 percent more from the state budget.

Yet already the state's public schools are operating with more than
700 fewer teachers and the state's universities are considering
slashing 1,100 faculty and staff positions over the next three years.

How many of those positions could be saved if we did not lose so much
revenue dealing with drug abuse?

Are so many of us so high that there is no longer a majority of
Mississippians who care how low the state is sinking in this
drug-induced morass?

Of course not.

But too many of us are indifferent to this plague or inattentive to
its consequences.

This editorial represents the views of the Sun Herald editorial board,
which consists of President-Publisher Glen Nardi, Vice President and
Executive Editor Stan Tiner, Opinion Page Editor B. Marie Harris,
Associate Editor Tony Biffle, Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer Flora S. Point and Marketing Services Director John McFarland.
Opinions expressed by columnists, cartoonists and letter writers are
their own.