PAYING FOR PREVENTION

Our View - Drug prevention is a noble goal, but funding should be
spent wisely.

If the end to drug use and abuse had a price, society would certainly
pay it.

However, it does not.

People like Harvey Palmer work tirelessly toward a noble and worthy
cause.

Palmer focused his energies on determining exactly what makes
adolescents and college students use drugs, particularly Ecstasy with
the new Ecstasy Prevention Project.

The project looks to survey young people of various ages and walks of
life in hopes of better understanding and hopefully curbing the use of
club drugs like Ecstasy.

The project is not without flaws, however. It seems to be a small
battle in the scheme of an ongoing and seemingly never-ending war.

A government grant of $300,000 will fund the project that will operate
only in southern Mississippi.

For that amount of money, the entire state should and could be
covered, at least. Here's to hoping the project spreads to include the
broadest range possible.

One major college, University of Southern Mississippi, would be
included in the survey.

And while the use of Ecstasy should certainly be seen as a problem, it
does not have the largest effect on Mississippians.

According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration's Web
site, 546.4 kilograms of cocaine were seized in 2003 and 336
methamphetamine laboratories were found.

Research and prevention money must be doled out according to the level
of urgency.

Also, enforcement is a large key to the war on drugs. We can
understand why people turn to drugs, but if someone considering going
down that road does not have at least some fear of being caught, the
large amounts of time and energy people put into researching might be
wasted.

While the project is a noble one and should certainly be wished
nothing but success, a combination of education, prevention and
enforcement should be included in each project to assure the most
efficient use of taxpayer funds.