LET'S FOCUS ON REHABILITATION

That (Mississippi) drug czar Frank Melton doesn't have law enforcement
credentials is not necessarily a bad thing. Overemphasis on law enforcement
solutions to public health problems results in needless deaths. Drug users
are reluctant to seek medical attention. Rehabilitation is also confounded.
Turnout at Alcoholics Anony-mous meetings would be rather low if alcoholism
were a crime pursued with zero-tolerance zeal.

Eliminating the stigma and penalties associated with illicit drug abuse
would facilitate rehabilitation and save lives.

Unfortunately, tough-on-drugs politicians have built careers on confusing
drug prohibition's collateral damage with drugs themselves. When politics
trumps science, people die.

Centers for Disease Control researchers estimate that 57 percent of AIDS
cases among women and 36 percent of overall AIDS cases in the U.S. 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.

Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse.

Robert Sharpe,

program officer,

Drug Policy Alliance,

Washington, D.C.