A CLOSER LOOK - FAILED DRUG POLICIES NEED TO BE REVISED

Can we as concerned law-abiding citizens do something to change failed drug
policies that are creating heartache, trauma and confusion throughout
America, diverting police from pursuing violent criminal parasites,
clogging our court system, breaking up families, and labeling America as
the incarceration capital of the world?

There is no easy answer to the traumatic impact of illegal drug abuse. Most
of us realize the federal government's "War on Drugs" has been a failed
experiment. Yet, as taxpayers we tacitly approve the chicanery that is
going on in Washington and at the state level.

In small rural and suburban communities, law enforcement is generally able
to find out what is going on through the use of informants and
investigations. But illegal-drug users, even after being arrested, still
have a tendency to come back to Willcox, said Willcox Police Chief Jake
Weaver. And, abusers understand that the Cochise County Sheriff's
Department has a limited number of deputies to cover a large and spread out
area and thereby take advantage of the situation that exists. The state
police have their hands full just patrolling the highways.

The end result of prohibition is to drive illegal drugs underground.
Therefore, it becomes much more difficult to monitor. Similar prohibition
tactics in the roaring '20s only increased alcohol prices and very little
of anything was accomplished for the public good. Runaway illicit drug
prices have opened up lucrative opportunities for drug pushers. They have
capitalized on the $6-billion-a-year nationwide illegal drug market and
will continue to do so in the future.

At the state and federal level, politicians should get off the
lock-them-up-and-throw-away-the-key mentality that only serves as a bonanza
for construction companies and criminal justice personnel at a horrific
cost to financially burdened taxpayers.

There is no question that violent criminals and criminal sexual psychopaths
should be incarcerated for the protection of society. However, most drug
addicts don't totally fit that description and a reasonable percentage of
offenders can be saved from a life behind bars.

Politicians are fearful of being branded as soft on crime if they take the
position that there may be a more pragmatic and realistic way to combat
illegal drugs. Therefore, a criminal-justice system that routinely
sentences nonviolent addicts to prison contributes to increased crime and
violent behavior in the community at large.

A segment of our population will always use illegal drugs. The government's
role should be to reduce the physical and psychological harm to the user
and society through treatment and other meaningful approaches. If a drug
abuser sells drugs and is addicted, he or she should be subject to a prison
sentence. In the majority of cases when addicts with a history of selling
drugs are released from prison, they all too often go back on the street
and sell drugs and violate the terms of their parole.

The criminal justice system avoids the fact that the two most abused and
lethal drugs in America, alcohol and nicotine are legal due to the
manufacturer's flow of money to lobbyists and political campaigns. Even the
most casual observer can see that drug-abuse policies are incongruent and
must be thoroughly reviewed for possible revision.

Evidently, our politicians at the state and federal level are aware that to
put alcohol and nicotine in the same illegal category as marijuana would
only create animosity and dim the politician's chances of being returned to
political office.

Why? Because millions of Americans are addicted to one or both legal drugs
at a horrendous cost in human life, pain and suffering and billions of
dollars that could be used for desperately needed health care and public
and private education.

To avoid any confusion about my position on the legalization of
physically-addictive hard drugs such as heroin, morphine, meth, and
cocaine, among others, I am convinced that it would be a mistake that would
compound the problem and promote hard-drug use. However, hard-drug users
that have no previous felony arrest record should not automatically be
sentenced to a state or federal prison and come in contact with hardened
criminals, learn lessons of the trade from the best teachers, and be
subjected to rape and sadism and be released into a free society more
vindictive than when they were sentenced to prison.

Obviously, there are no easy answers to this controversial argument over
how to handle drug abuse. Options currently available are long prison
sentences, probation with mandatory drug-abuse counseling and therapy,
reduced penalties for soft drug convictions, public and private school
education, and legalization.

Efforts are being made by government and local service agencies to reduce
the human carnage that is a product of both illegal drugs and legal drugs
like alcohol and nicotine. They are to be commended for their leadership
and devoted efforts to treat addiction at the community level rather than
shipping offenders of to a prison system that is considered one of the
worst in the world.

Often, inmates are released from prison as a greater threat to society than
when they were sentenced. Violence is a part of prison life, which makes an
inmate fight for his or her self-respect and dignity, whatever is left. If
he or she is a mild-mannered addict, prison thugs quickly pick them out as
an easy touch to sexually assault and abuse. When released from prison,
they have to carry a heavy load of psychological baggage that makes it even
more difficult to stay off drugs in a free society.