WAR ON DRUGS NOT WORKING

For almost three decades now, the federal government has been pursuing a
harsh zero-tolerance-based war on illegal drugs - including military and
joint law enforcement-task force forays against drug growers, wholesalers
and retailers here and overseas.

Yet its own drug-use survey suggests that Americans continue to create a
huge black market for reality-altering substances. It should be no surprise
that international drug runners are motivated to take huge risks in growing
and processing drugs and bringing them to market, as well as in diverting
legal prescription drugs to illegal uses. The rewards are so lucrative.

Maybe it's time for Americans who abhor illegal drug use to concede that a
supply-side war on drugs cannot work.

Maybe if some of the money wasted on drug interdiction went toward demand
reduction, such as free rehab and stepped-up drug education, we could get a
leg up on this terrible problem. What have we got to lose by trying?