VOTE TO END COUNTY'S ANTI-DRUG TAX

There are at least 10 major reasons to not renew the Jackson County
anti-drug tax, by voting "no" in Tuesday's election:

* The tax is not working. Drugs are as plentiful as ever.

* Existing treatment programs do not work for most people. Relapses are
common, and it's not unheard of for users to pick up their habits again the
day they are released from treatment.

* The 14 years that the anti-drug tax will have existed is longer than the
13 years that alcohol prohibition lasted; therefore, just as America
sobered up and realized there are some things government can keep people
from doing and some things government cannot, so too should the voters of
Jackson County call a halt to a noble experiment that has failed.

* The anti-drug tax has degenerated into a huge patronage pork barrel for
local politicians to dispense to a handful of insiders.

* Jackson County is still the only county in America that has adopted an
anti-drug sales tax. If it were such a good idea, some other county would
have adopted such a tax.

* Too much of the anti-drug tax money still goes to the cops and the
courts, instead of to addiction research and treatment. This issue was
raised seven years ago when the tax was up for renewal. At that time,
county officials promised more money would go for treatment. In spite of
their promises, the lion's share of the tax proceeds still go to the cops,
the courts and to Jackson County administration.

* The anti-drug tax is fueling a war on drugs that has lost its way and
become a war on the black community. Prisons and jails are bursting at the
seams with nonviolent drug offenders, a disproportionate number of which
are black people.

* Continuing to do the same things by renewing a tax that hasn't worked is
not sane public policy and is not the best way to solve the problems of
illegal drugs.

* This tax should be ended in order that we may find -- and be able to
afford -- effective ways to solve the problems of illegal drugs.

* We should not vote for a tax to fight a war we can't win, when budget
shortfalls are hurting schools and medical care benefits and worsening
other problems that we can solve.

For these and many other reasons, every voter should vote "no" on a tax
that not only isn't working, but also is doing harm to whole communities
and to whole generations.

Richard Charles Tolbert is a former Kansas City councilman and is the
current committeeman for the 14th Ward of Kansas City.