DRUG WAR SHOULD CHANGE POLICIES

The Statesman Journal deserves kudos for printing an eloquent voice of
dissent against the war on drugs. Russ Jones is one of a growing body
of former criminal justice professionals who see the new Prohibition
as an international disaster that gets only worse, never better.

Now a trans-border problem that has foreign criminal syndicates
operating in the U.S., the failures of other U.S.-led efforts to
reduce drug production and trafficking can be seen in Colombia and
Afghanistan where cocaine and opium production has reached record
levels. The proposed escalation as outlined in Plan Mexico will serve
only to exacerbate a worsening situation.

As Jones points out, the only true solution is to change drug policies
from punitive to regulatory and health based. Anything else only fuels
the war and enriches the cartels.

Allan Erickson, Drug Policy Forum of Oregon, Eugene