DRUG ADVOCATES FOCUS EFFORTS ON REFORMING LAWS

NORMAL -- The war on drugs has failed and U.S. policies against
illegal drug use cost taxpayers $60 billion annually, three activists
told an Illinois State University audience Thursday.

Greg Francisco of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Pete Guinther,
author/editor of Drug WarRant.com, and George Pappas, executive
director of Illinois Drug Education And Legislative Reform and
related groups promoting medical marijuana, talked to about 60 people
at ISU's Bone Student Center. ISU's chapter of Students for a
Sensible Drug Policy sponsored the event.

Although their focuses varied, they all called for lessening the
legal restrictions on currently illegal drugs, especially marijuana.

Guinther said the United States has 5 percent of the world's
population but 25 percent of its prison population.

"That's largely because of the drug war," he said.

Pappas said more black men are in Illinois prisons than in college
classrooms. Citing a 2004 statistic, he said 24,949 Illinois black
men were in prison and 20,725 were in colleges or universities.

Pappas said for every $1 spent for drug treatment, $7 is saved in
other costs, such as prison.

Prohibiting drugs instead of regulating them creates a black market
with no controls over quality, dosage and who buys and who sells,
Francisco said.

"Ninety-five percent of the cost of drugs is actually the risk," he said.

Big drug raids temporarily lessens the supply and drive up the prices
because nothing is done about demand in the process.

"You cannot eradicate something by making it more valuable," he said.

The drug trade also breeds violence in which innocent bystanders can
get killed, he said.

"Criminals are in an arms race with each other -- they shoot it out," he said.

Guinther said current drug policies destroy families, especially in
inner cities, take away civil liberties, create a criminal class,
escalate violence and deny medicine to sick people. Marijuana has
been used for a variety of illnesses, such as AIDS, glaucoma, cancer,
multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chronic pain.

Guinther cited a four-year study in Switzerland in which free heroin
was given to addicts, and as a result their involvement in burglary,
muggings and robberies fell 98 percent.

Users in the program were healthier and had better employment,
housing and relationships than users not in the program, he said. He
added he did not advocate its use in any way and would not use it himself.