LAWYER WANTS DARE OFF VEHICLE STICKERS

Jim Gierach has written a letter to the mayor of Oak Lawn, saying he
is offended by village vehicle stickers that feature the insignia of
one of the most popular anti-drug programs in the country -- DARE.

An attorney with offices in Oak Lawn, Gierach has spent nearly 20
years campaigning for the legalization of drugs such as marijuana,
cocaine and heroin.

"There isn't a single problem in this country, make that the world,
that isn't somehow tied to this country's prohibition against certain
drugs," Gierach said during a recent telephone conversation.

"You can't afford new schools because tax money is being used to build
new prisons to hold the people arrested for using or selling drugs.

"AIDS? More people in this country get AIDS from using dirty needles
than from homosexual activity.

"Terrorism? Where do you think Osama bin Laden's getting the money to
fund his terrorist organization? Afghanistan has become the leading
grower of opium poppy, with thousands of our troops stationed there.
Where do you think that crop ends ups? On the streets of the United
States."

Gierach believes DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) actually
encourages drug use among students.

He cites studies, the most recent from the University of Kentucky.

And he quotes Chicago Ridge police chief Tim Balderman as saying DARE
actually introduced children in his suburb to illegal drugs for the
first time.

"It got to the point where every 18 or 19-year-old kid we arrested for
drugs was a graduate of the DARE program," Balderman told me. "I would
say it was ineffective."

Gierach, 62, has become the leading spokesman for legalizing illicit
drugs in the south suburbs, maybe the state.

He has run unsuccessfully for Cook County state's attorney and
governor using that as his primary campaign issue.

He writes letters to newspapers, appears on radio and TV shows and
makes public speeches to any group willing to listen.

None of that has changed anything.

I first met Gierach before he became known for his anti-drug
campaign.

At that time, he was representing the Crisis Center for South
Suburbia, pro bono, before the Palos Hills zoning board. The shelter
for battered and abused women was trying to expand its facility on the
campus of Moraine Valley Community College.

Some residents of Palos Heights objected to the expansion, claiming
the shelter would attract angry husbands and spouses intent on doing
violence to the community.

At least one citizen said, "those women probably deserve it," while
thrusting a fist through the air, simulating a right uppercut.

Gierach's intensity and passionate speeches on behalf of the Crisis
Center failed to win the day, but the shelter eventually found a new
home in Tinley Park.

Although some people might characterize Gierach now as a crackpot or
zealot, he reminded me that he has a long history of mainstream
community service.

"No one said anything like that about me when I was an assistant
state's attorney for Cook County, prosecutor for Oak Lawn, president
of the Oak Lawn United Way or president of the Luther League at
church," Gierach said.

"The people who say such things just don't understand the harm illegal
drugs are doing to this country."

Gierach believes most violent crime in the United States can be tied
to drug addicts or the street gangs that sell them drugs.

"The drug addicts will do anything to get money to pay for their
addiction," Gierach said.

"The drug dealers will do anything to protect their turf."

To address the first issue, Gierach would make drugs available free of
charge to addicts at health clinics.

Taxpayers might wonder who would pay for that.

"The same people who now pay for police officers to arrest drug
addicts, the same people who now pay for prisons and prison guards,
the same people who now pay for courtrooms and lawyers and judges to
put drug addicts on trial," Gierach said.

As for the gang violence, Gierach believes it would come to an end
once people could buy drugs legally in this country.

"Al Capone made a fortune during prohibition because the sale of
alcoholic beverages was prohibited," Gierach said.

"He built a criminal empire selling illegal booze the same way street
gangs build their empires with money from drugs.

"You can arrest 1,000 drug dealers, and 1,000 more will replace them
tomorrow. It's a waste of time, money and effort."

I told Gierach that, in my opinion, most people would disagree with
his position on legalizing drugs.

"Some day, someone saying what I'm saying will do the world a great
service," Gierach said.

For now, Gierach just wants Oak Lawn to "retreat from its
wrong-headed, DARE-sticker shortedsightedness.

"Every time someone thinks they're doing something to stop drug use,
they're actually promoting drug use," he said.

"People just don't understand the problem."