HOW TO DECREASE DRUG USE

To the editor:

Stephen Young's May 16th Perspectives "Drug money" was right on target.
Increasing penalties for low-level heroin dealers will only burden Illinois
taxpayers. If harsh penalties served to deter drug use the elusive goal of
a "drug-free" America would have been achieved years ago. The United States
now has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Despite record numbers
of drug offenders behind bars, drug use continues unabated as new
replacement dealers step in to reap inflated illicit market profits.

The tough-on-drugs approach essentially provides price supports for
organized crime by limiting supply while demand remains constant. As long
as financial incentives for drug dealing remain in place the illicit market
will continue to thrive.

A more practical way of undermining organized crime is taking heroin
distribution out of the hands of criminals. That doesn't necessarily entail
handing it over to Madison Avenue.

Switzerland's heroin maintenance trials have been shown to reduce
drug-related disease, death, and crime. They are currently being replicated
in Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. Providing chronic addicts with
standardized doses in a treatment setting eliminates much of the problems
associated with illicit heroin use. Addicts would not be sharing needles if
not for zero tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes, nor
would they be committing crimes if not for artificially inflated illicit
market prices.

If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would ultimately deprive
organized crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin
trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations from addiction. Harm
reduction interventions have the potential to reduce the perils of both
drug use and drug prohibition. Putting public health before politics may
send the wrong message to children, but I like to think the children
themselves are more important than the message.

Robert Sharpe, program officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington, D.C.