LET'S GO DUTCH:

Unlike Ours, Their Approach to Drugs Actually Works

THE WAR ON DRUGS is a disaster. Just read the daily headlines:
arrests and record drug seizures every week; worldwide violence
related to drug cartels and gangs; new (and deadlier) drugs targeted
to kids. The very fact that our government believes we need drug
testing in schools is a tacit admission that the current strategy
isn't working.

So what do we do about it?

The first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem. That's
something Great Britain recently did. Two months ago, the United
Kingdom Drugs Policy Commission issued a brutally honest report that
concluded Britain's own War on Drugs was "a total failure." The panel
included a diverse group of experts, ranging from health
professionals to law enforcement officials.

Their frank assessment found that decades of Brit-style "Just Say No"
campaigns had little impact on deterring drug use. The report stated:
"Whether we like it or not, drugs are and will remain a fact of life.
On that basis, the aim of the law should be to reduce the amounts of
harm caused to individuals, their friends and families, their
children and their communities."

The commission criticized the government for wasting huge amounts of
money on "futile efforts to stop supply," and suggested that jail
sentences should be given only for the most serious drug-related crimes.

THEY RECOMMENDED a shift from the current "criminal justice bias" to
recognizing addiction as a health and social problem. The report also
advocated "supervised drug consumption rooms" as a means of
preventing overdoses, and getting addicts into treatment.

It's not as if these are radical new ideas. Other European countries
have already implemented sensible policies, and the Brits themselves
have some experience in this area. From the 1920s to the 1960s,
heroin was routinely prescribed to U.K. addicts. The population of
junkies remained stable at around 2,000 during that period. When the
laws were changed in 1971, the black market for heroin exploded. The
United Kingdom now has 300,000 addicts.

That distressing tidbit comes from a U.S. News & World Report article
(March 26 issue) about things we can learn from other countries.
Thomas K. Grose writes that in the Netherlands, they have adopted a
"pragmatic approach" that is paying dividends for both taxpayers and addicts.

Grose says it's a popular misconception that Holland has a permissive
attitude toward drugs. Officials there still aggressively prosecute
large-scale drug trafficking, and jail addicts who commit crimes. But
they don't arrest users merely for possession.

Because the Dutch view addiction as a brain disease that requires
treatment instead of incarceration, about 70 percent of their addicts
get help. By contrast, only 10 to 15 percent of addicts in the United
States receive treatment. In Hawaii, fewer than 20 percent of
prisoners with drug problems get treatment.

DOES THE DUTCH way work? Thirty years ago, there were about 30,000
heroin addicts in the Netherlands. Today, the number of junkies is
the same, even though the population has grown by 6 percent. That
means fewer new users are becoming addicted.

By treating junkies with prescription heroin, they also found that
addicts commit fewer crimes to support their habits -- which
translates to less government spending, as well. Numerous studies
show it's much cheaper to treat drug users than imprison them. For
every dollar spent on treatment, taxpayers save more than $7 in
prison costs, according to one analysis.

But I know what you're probably wondering: What about the infamous
Amsterdam coffee shops that sell marijuana? Dutch kids must be
getting stoned all the time, right?

Wrong, bong-breath. Pot smoking among teens under 18 actually dropped
from 11 to 9 percent between 1996 and 2003. And the evidence suggests
they are less likely to try harder drugs, since pot is available. In
Holland at least, the "gateway drug" theory doesn't seem to hold water.

WE ARE A nation in denial. Instead of taking responsibility for being
the world's largest consumer of illegal substances, we blame other
countries for supplying them. Parents would rather point fingers at
schools or the media, when the truth is many kids are using "legal"
drugs they can find in their own parents' medicine cabinets.

As a recovering addict, I've seen the damage done by alcohol and
drugs. Some people (like me) cannot handle the stuff, and shouldn't
touch it. Abstinence for all, however, isn't realistic or necessary.
That's why I believe the best we can do is to lessen demand and
reduce harm. If you have ideas or suggestions, please send them to
the Star-Bulletin at letters@starbulletin.com or directly to me at
figeli001@hawaii.rr.com.

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ALTERNATIVES TO FIGHTING A LOSING WAR

Drug abuse affects us all, directly or indirectly. To learn more
about alternatives to the current War on Drugs strategy, here are a
few organizations that have Web sites you can visit:

. Drug Policy Alliance: www.drugpolicy.org Their bipartisan direct
mail piece includes quotes from Walter Cronkite, conservatives such
as William F. Buckley, Jr., and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman.

. Drug Policy Forum: www.dpfhi.org A Hawaii-based nonprofit group
that provides information and acts as a resource for the local media
on drug-related issues.

. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition: www.leap.cc LEAP is comprised
of veteran cops and detectives who have been part of the War on
Drugs, and now say it's time for a change in strategy.