DRUG WAR FAILS MISERABLY

Re: Robert Rivard's Sunday column, "Untouchable Drug Lords Threaten
Mexico's Embrace of Democracy":

The threat posed by drug lords extends far beyond Mexico's borders. In the
United States, the institutional corruption engendered by drug prohibition
stretches from coast to coast and reaches the highest levels.

The high-profile Los Angeles Police Department Rampart scandal involved
anti-drug officers selling drugs and framing gang members. A former
commander of U.S. anti-drug operations in Colombia was found guilty of
laundering the profits of his wife's heroin-smuggling operation.

Countries have been destabilized by the corrupting influence of the illegal
drug trade. Like alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, the drug war is causing
tremendous societal harm, while failing miserably at preventing use.

While U.S. politicians ignore the drug war's historical precedent, European
countries are embracing harm reduction, a public health alternative based
on the principle that both drug abuse and prohibition have the potential to
cause harm.

Examples of harm reduction include needle exchange programs to stop the
spread of HIV, marijuana regulation aimed at separating the hard and soft
drug markets and treatment alternatives that do not require incarceration
as a prerequisite.

Unfortunately, fear of appearing "soft on crime" compels many U.S.
politicians to support a failed drug war that ultimately subsidizes
organized crime. Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse.

Robert Sharpe,

policy analyst,

Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Washington, D.C.