RELAX DRUG LAWS TO REDUCE CRIME

To the Editor:

The College's public policy graduate student Nick Howard couldn't have
picked a better speaker to discuss the drug war than Eric Sterling. As a
former counsel for the Congressional Judiciary Committee, Sterling makes a
compelling case for harm reduction alternatives to the never-ending drug
war. So-called drug-related crime is invariably prohibition-related.

Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant
only increases the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs
like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase
their criminal activity to feed habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime --
it fuels crime.

With alcohol prohibition repealed, liquor bootleggers no longer gun each
other down and consumers don't go blind drinking unregulated bathtub gin.
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. Students who want to help reform harmful drug
laws should contact Students for Sensible Drug Policy at www.ssdp.org. Drug
abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse.

- -- Robert Sharpe, '91