WAR ON DRUGS NEEDS MORE AMMUNITION

Editor, the News-Sentinel:

The arrest of the director of the 10th Judicial Drug Task Force on cocaine
charges is just one of many examples of institutional corruption engendered
by the drug war. This corruption stretches from coast to coast and reaches
the highest levels.

The high-profile Los Angeles Police Department Rampart scandal involved
anti-drug officers selling drugs and framing gang members. A former
commander of U.S. anti-drug operations in Colombia was found guilty of
laundering the profits of his wife's heroin smuggling operation.

Entire countries have been destabilized due to the corrupting influence of
the illegal drug trade.

Like alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, the drug war is causing tremendous
societal harm while failing miserably at preventing use.

Drug laws fuel organized crime and violence, which is then used to justify
increased drug-war spending. It's time to end this madness and start
treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health
problem it is.

While U.S. politicians ignore drug war's historical precedent in alcohol
prohibition, European countries are embracing harm reduction, a public
health alternative to never-ending drug war.

Harm reduction is based on the principle that both drug abuse and
prohibition can cause harm. Examples of harm reduction include needle
exchange programs to stop the spread of HIV, marijuana regulation aimed at
separating the hard and soft drug markets, and treatment alternatives that
do not require incarceration as a prerequisite.

Unfortunately, fear of appearing soft on crime compels many U.S.
politicians to support a punitive drug war that ultimately subsidizes
organized crime.

Robert Sharpe

Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.