'WE HAVE NEVER MADE A DIFFERENCE' IN DRUG WAR, EX-COP TELLS ROTARY

The Canton Rotary Club heard Friday from a speaker who wants to scrap
the nation's drug laws. He wants to end the illegal drug trade by
putting the government in charge of regulating the sale of drugs just
as it does alcohol and tobacco products.

The Rotarians were polite, as one would expect them to be. Some were
in agreement with speaker Howard Wooldridge's message because I heard
them say so in small conversations around the room. Most were
noncommittal. There was no vote taken on the members' sentiments
after Wooldridge finished his speech.

The bones of his argument compel thought. The United States since
about 1971 has poured trillions of dollars into enforcing drug laws,
Wooldridge stated, and has no measurable results except for more
people in prison. And who pays to build the prisons?

"The war on drugs. How's that working for you in the Buckeye State?
Is it reducing crime?" Wooldridge asked to open his talk.

As a former police officer, Wooldridge says that law enforcement has
no large effect on the drug trade. "Law enforcement is a mosquito on
the butt of an elephant. We have never made a difference," said the
former Michigan cop who has adopted Texas and shows it with his
hard-to-miss cowboy hat.

The cowboy hat probably gets him a fair amount of notice in
Washington, D.C., where he lobbies Congress on behalf of an
organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. It is
comprised of former police officers, judges, prosecutors and
probation officers who see futility in the enforcement of drug laws.

While spending $70 billion a year on drug enforcement, police are
distracted from the pursuit of child molesters, drunken drivers and
even terrorists, Wooldridge said.

The nation will never make headway against drug dealers, he said,
because drug dealers accept death and imprisonment "as conditions of
employment." There also is an endless supply of drug workers. When
one is killed or locked up, another takes his place.

"I envision an America where drug dealing is not a career option for
young people," he said. How would that happen? He didn't offer
details, saying he would leave them to experts. But he would have the
government regulate sale, including the prohibition of sale to young people.

To me, it sounded too simple, maybe because the experts have not been
put on the task yet. But his argument about the futility of the
nation's war on drugs was hard to deny.

As a lobbyist in Washington, he admits he is not getting anywhere
quickly. He believes that lawmakers are reluctant to admit that the
last 35 years have been a mistake and a waste of money. He urged
everyone in his audience to raise the issue with local lawmakers.

The Rotary meeting is for members and invited guests. I was the guest
of retired Stark County Common Pleas Judge Harry E. Klide, whose
essay in The Repository about the drug war last December attracted
the attention of Wooldridge's organization.

Klide hopes to encourage a community dialogue about drug laws and
drug enforcement. We will let you know if Klide makes any progress in
encouraging that debate.