THE WAR ON DRUGS CANNOT BE WON

Based on my experience as a federal prosecutor with the United States
Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, as a criminal defence attorney for
the U.S. Navy JAG Corps, and as a trial judge in Orange County,
Calif. since 1983, I've concluded that the U.S. government policy of
drug prohibition has not only failed, but that it is hopeless.

The problem is not that our law enforcement officers aren't doing a
good job. In truth is they have a dangerous and difficult task, and
are doing better than we have a right to expect. They are no more to
blame for the failure of drug prohibition than was Elliott Ness for
the failure of alcohol prohibition. The problem, rather, is that our
prohibitionist laws make the trafficking in illegal drugs so
obscenely profitable that we will never exhaust the supply to
criminals willing to take the risk of imprisonment in order to
produce and sell them.

In fact, our present system is giving us the worst of all worlds. As
a direct result of our policy of drug prohibition, crime, violence,
corruption, taxes and -- in many cases -- even drug usage have
increased, while the health and civil liberties of citizens have
suffered. America's "prison-industrial complex" has gotten so fat and
powerful from the money our governments have budgeted for the War on
Drugs that it has become politically dangerous for elected officials
to speak out against the current policy. Under these circumstances,
it is up to ordinary people -- as citizens, taxpayers and voters --
to call a halt to these failed policies.

We should begin by asking the following questions:

- - What is a "drug"? If the answer is that a drug is a "mind-altering,
sometimes addictive substance," why are substances such as nicotine,
alcohol and even caffeine not also addressed by the same policy?

- - Why do we not make distinctions between drug use, drug misuse, drug
abuse and drug addiction? I agree that marijuana, for example, can
have harmful effects upon the user if taken to excess on a regular
basis. But obviously, so can alcohol. I drink a glass of wine almost
every night with dinner. Does that mean that I am in need of an
alcohol treatment program?

- - Why is it appropriate to send gifted actor Robert Downey Jr. to
jail for his problems with cocaine, but send Betty Ford to treatment
for her problems with alcohol? Aren't these really medical issues
that should be addressed by medical professionals? Shouldn't we use
the criminal justice system to address people's conduct, and leave
the medical community and social mores to address what people put
into their bodies?

- - Given that there has never been a society in human history that has
not embraced some form of mind-altering drug to use and abuse, should
we not put our focus on harm reduction, rather than fighting human
nature through prohibitionist mechanism?

- - On a related note, why do our policies not take into account the
problems caused by the War on Drugs itself? For example, I have never
heard anyone say that it is a good thing to be a heroin addict. But
if some people become heroin addicts, why should they also get AIDS
from dirty needles? That is a separate problem that is caused by
prohibiting the distribution and possession of hypodermic needles and
syringes, as well as turning the drug-addicted people into criminals,
thus pushing them farther away from medical facilities where they can
get help. Moreover, why should the people of Colombia see their
military, police, judiciary, safety and way of life corrupted by our
drug money? The people of Colombia do not have a drug problem: No one
is dying from coca plants. What they have is a devastating drug money problem.

History is instructive. Consider that when alcohol prohibition was
repealed in the United States, homicides went down by 60% after only
one year, and they continued to decline each year thereafter until
the beginning of the Second World War. There is no question in my
mind that we will experience similar results when we finally repeal
drug prohibition.

In June of 1994, the RAND Corporation released a study that found we
get seven times more value for our tax money by drug treatment
programs than by the incarceration of drug addicts. So let's make
drug treatment available upon demand, and get the non-problem users
of drugs out of the criminal justice system. This will enable us to
focus our scarce resources upon the problem users -- men and women
who are driven by drugs to commit violent crimes.

Further, let's do what we can to take the profit motive out of the
sale of drugs. Programs of decriminalization and medicalization are
working effectively in countries like Holland and Switzerland. They
can work in the United States and Canada as well.