DRUG POLICIES RUIN LIVES

Regarding your recent editorial about the decline in drug use by teenagers:
That drug use has gone down among American teenagers is indeed good news.
The biggest declines noted in the 2002 Monitoring the Future survey were in
tobacco use. Public education efforts are clearly paying off. This raises
serious questions about the war on some drugs. Mandatory minimum sentences,
civil asset forfeiture, random drug testing and racial profiling are not
necessarily the most cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices.

These days school-based zero tolerance drug policies pose a greater threat
to teenagers than drugs. According to the Monitoring the Future Survey, over
half of all high school seniors have tried an illicit drug. Denying a
majority of the nation's youth an education is not in America's best
interest.

Most teenagers outgrow their youthful indiscretions involving drugs. An
arrest and criminal record, on the other hand, can be life-shattering. After
admitting to smoking pot (but not inhaling), former President Bill Clinton
opened himself up to "soft on drugs" criticism. And thousands of Americans
have paid the price in the form of shattered lives. More Americans went to
prison or jail during the Clinton administration than during any past
administration.

As an admitted former drinker and alleged illicit drug user, President
George W. Bush is also politically vulnerable when it comes to drugs. While
youthful indiscretions didn't stop Clinton or Bush from assuming leadership
positions, an arrest surely would have. The short-term health effects of
politically incorrect drugs such as marijuana are inconsequential compared
to the long-term effects of criminal records. Drug abuse is bad, but the
zero tolerance drug war is worse.

Robert Sharpe

Washington, D.C.

Robert Sharpe is program officer for the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington,
D.C.