DRUG WAR FUELS CRIME

The crime, corruption and overdose deaths attributed to drugs, are all
direct results of drug prohibition. With alcohol prohibition repealed in
the United States, liquor bootleggers no longer gun each other down in
drive-by shootings. neither do consumers go blind drinking unregulated
bathtub gin.

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

Unfortunately, shameless tough-on-drugs politicians have built careers on
confusing drug prohibition's collateral damage with drugs themselves. The
global drug problem is compounded by the manner in which the United States
uses its superpower status to export a dangerous moral crusade around the
globe. When politics trumps science, people die. Consider the experience of
the former land of the free and current record holder in citizens incarcerated.

US Centres for Disease Control researchers estimate that 57 per cent of
AIDS cases among women and 36 per cent of overall AIDS cases in the US are
linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs. This
easily preventable public health crisis is a direct result of zero
tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes. Jamaica should just
say no to the harm of the maximisation of drug policies of the United States.

Robert Sharpe Programme Officer Drug Policy Alliance 925 15th Street,
NW Washington, DC 20005 USA http://www.drugpolicy.org