FACTS BACK THE FUTILITY OF WAR ON DRUGS

IN Carmine F. Ambrosino's Feb. 16 commentary, "Dangerous misinformation on
marijuana," the chief executive officer of Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug
Services, Inc. in Wilkes-Barre did indeed rely on "dangerous misinformation
on marijuana" to make his points. Rather than rebut each of his erroneous
statements I would direct the reader to www.drugwarfacts.org for the true
facts.

These are also the true facts:

Over nearly four decades we have fueled our nation's War on Drugs with more
than a half-a-trillion tax dollars and increasingly punitive policies.

Our court systems are choked with the 1.6 million nonviolent drug offenses
we prosecute each year (fully half of which are for marijuana-law violations).

In the last 20 years our prison population has quadrupled, making building
prisons the fastest-growing industry in America.

Today 2.2 million people are incarcerated in those prisons -- more per
capita than any country in the world.

Meanwhile, drug barons grow richer every day, terrorists amass fortunes
from drug sales, and people continue dying on our streets.

The only thing we have to show for this terrible war is that, today,
illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent, and far easier to get, than they
were 35 years ago when, as an undercover narcotics agent, I first started
buying heroin on those streets.

This represents the very definition of a failed public policy. Will Rogers
said, "If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging."

When a policy has failed so miserably over such a long period, it is time
to stop digging this hole of the war on drugs and find alternative strategies.

During alcohol prohibition at the beginning of the 20th century, rate of
murder and police corruption in the United States rose to the highest
levels in its history. The year we ended prohibition those statistics fell
to a low ebb where they remained until we declared war on drugs 55 years
later. Thanks to that war we have surpassed both those figures with the new
prohibition.

The unintended consequences of this terrible war are needlessly destroying
the lives of generations of America's youth. How many young people do you
know who have used an illegal drug, then put the drugs behind them and gone
on to lead productive lives? U.S. presidents and many members of the our
legislative bodies have done exactly that. With imprisonment, those
possibilities are eliminated. You can get over an addiction, but you will
never get over a conviction.

Moreover, with the economy floundering and all states registering deficit
spending, the United States can no longer afford this war, which is
estimated to cost 69 billion more dollars each year we continue the fight.

Ending drug prohibition is not a decision I came to lightly. Rather, I made
it after 26 years in the New Jersey State Police, including 14 as an
undercover narcotics agent.

Mr. Ambrosino suggested that to get the true facts you should "talk
with juvenile and family judges, district attorney, county coroner, local
and state police officials."

I am not alone in this view. I am joined by increasing numbers of current
and former members of law enforcement and informed citizens who believe the
cure is worse than the disease.

In 2002, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) was founded by five
former cops. LEAP's mission is to educate the public about the futility of
the U.S. policy, which has become, not a war on drugs, but a war on people.

Today LEAP has more than 2,000 members and we are no longer just cops. LEAP
has 85 speakers made up of current and former police chiefs, judges,
prosecutors, corrections officers and coroners--even former DEA agents,
currently employed prison wardens, and a former Commissioner of the
Pennsylvania Crime Commission.

We say society can and must develop a more humane and effective public
policy than drug prohibition.