THE WAR ON STREET DRUGS DOESN'T FIGHT CRIME; IT FUELS IT

Re: 'Common sense' proposal is being ignored, The Standard, March 23.

In reference to Scott Taylor's column, Afghanistan profits from the
opium trade because of drug prohibition, not in spite of it.

Attempts to limit supply while demand remains constant only increases
the profitability of drug trafficking. For 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. Heroin produced in
Afghanistan is primarily consumed in Europe, a continent already
experimenting with harm reduction alternatives to the drug war.
Switzerland's heroin maintenance trials have been shown to reduce
drug-related disease, death and crime among chronic users.

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 black market prices. Providing
addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many
of the problems associated with illicit heroin use.

Heroin maintenance pilot projects are under way in Canada, Germany,
Spain and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin
maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This
would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future
generations from addiction.

Putting public health before politics may send the wrong message to
children, but I like to think the children are more important than the
message.

To learn more about heroin maintenance research in Canada please
visit: www.naomistudy.ca.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Buchanan Court

Arlington, Va.