POLICIES FAILING

That border drug cartels are using teenage "mules" to do their dirty work
should not come as a surprise. Drug policies modeled after alcohol
prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug
dealers don't ID for age, but they do recruit minors who are immune to
adult sentences.

So much for protecting the children.

In Europe, the Netherlands has successfully reduced overall drug use by
replacing marijuana prohibition with adult regulation. Dutch rates of drug
use are significantly lower than U.S. rates in every category.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets and establishing age controls for
marijuana has proved to be more effective than zero tolerance policies. In
the U.S., marijuana provides black market contacts that introduce consumers
to addictive drugs. This "gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally
flawed policy.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than alcohol -- the plant has never
been shown to cause an overdose death -- it makes no sense to waste tax
dollars on failed policies that finance organized crime and facilitate the
use of hard drugs.

Drug policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to
think the children are more important than the message.

Robert Sharpe

program officer, Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, DC