COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

Editor:

The work of the 1st Judicial District Drug Task Force is no doubt
well-intended, but ultimately counterproductive.

So-called drug-related crime is invariably prohibition-related. 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. Sooner or later the
self-professed champions of the free market in Congress had better learn to
apply basic economic principles to drug policy. The drug war fuels
organized crime and violence, which is then used to justify increased
drug-war spending.

It's time to end this madness and begin treating all substance abuse, legal
or otherwise, as the public health problem it is. Drug policy should focus
not on reducing the total number of people who use drugs, but rather on
reducing the death, disease, crime and suffering associated with both drug
use and drug prohibition.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.,

Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.