TARGETING DRUG 'HOT SPOTS' COULD BACKFIRE

The Buffalo Common Council's commitment to a tough-on-drugs cleanup of
criminal "hot spots" is no doubt well-intended, but ultimately
counterproductive. Forcibly limiting the supply of illegal drugs while
demand remains constant only increases the profitability of drug trafficking.

In terms of addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads
desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits.
The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

The burden on taxpayers grows each year as ever more drug users and dealers
are imprisoned for consensual vices. Drug use continues unabated as
replacement dealers step in to reap inflated illicit market profits. Let's
not kid ourselves about protecting children. Illegal drug dealers don't ID
for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences.

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. Separating the hard and soft drug
markets and establishing age controls for marijuana has proven more
effective than zero tolerance.

Here in the United States, illegal marijuana provides the black market
contacts that introduce consumers to drugs like cocaine. This "gateway" is
the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy.

Drug policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to
think the children themselves are more important than the message.
Opportunistic tough-on-drugs politicians would no doubt disagree.

Robert Sharpe,
Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington, D.C.