Pubdate: Thu, 18 Jan 2001
Source: News Journal (DE)
Copyright: 2001 The News Journal
Contact:  Letters to Editor, Box 15505, Wilmington, DE 19850
Fax: (302) 324-2595
Website: http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/index.html
Author: Ralph Moyed

PRISONS AND ADDICTION ARE EQUALLY BAD

Ned Carpenter's proposal that the United States decriminalize illegal drugs 
is nothing if not provocative.

Coming from almost anyone else in Delaware, the idea would be dismissed out 
of hand. But Carpenter is a respected Wilmington lawyer, a key member of 
the Delaware establishment and a man of somewhat old-fashioned conservative 
views.

My immediate (paranoid) reaction to his letter to the editor was that 
Carpenter had fallen into the clutches of the Libertarian movement, which 
claims such mavericks as writer H.L. Mencken and Thomas Jefferson, author 
of the Declaration of Independence, as intellectual forefathers. It is 
unfortunate that both Mencken and Jefferson are no longer around to defend 
this stain upon their honor.

I do not believe Carpenter would be taken in by the extremist, twisted 
logic -- they call it philosophy -- of Libertarians.

The trouble with Carpenter's proposal is a simple one: It will not work.

I have known enough junkies to realize that any amount of heroin received 
from state clinics would not be enough for many of them and would be 
supplemented by the old illegal means. Research that this newspaper 
conducted in the early 1970s showed that many addicts were criminals before 
they were junkies. Many were second-generation criminals.

I believe that young people starting out without addictions would find ways 
to receive daily fixes at clinics.

The bad old days

I know little about cocaine and laudanum (a precursor of heroin) except 
what my father told me was happening when he was a boy. In those early days 
of the 20th century, when the drugs could be purchased across the counter 
in drugstores, zonked-out users would be seen sprawling on sidewalks near 
the stores. My father was too young to know where they got the money to 
satisfy their habits.

One thing is clear: When purchase and use of cocaine was legal, federal 
authorities estimated that as much as 11 percent of the adult population 
used the drug. Estimates tend to be high when law enforcement people are 
trying to get legislation through Congress. But it still was higher than it 
is today.

I have read many arguments about the damage done by marijuana, cocaine and 
heroin and still don't know what they do to the brain and body. There is no 
question that other drugs such as angel dust destroy brain cells, often 
permanently.

That does not mean I reject Carpenter's ideas about using treatment instead 
of harsh punishment to deal with addicts. It makes sense. I believe the 
state has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars building prisons to house 
men and women who, if treated for their addictions, might be productive 
citizens.

The concept of protecting ourselves with harsh punishment is a way to 
legitimize the cruel side of the character of too many Americans. We talk 
of retribution when we mean plain old, counterproductive and mean-spirited 
vengeance. Worst of all, most intelligent Americans know it doesn't work. 
We are no safer on the streets because of long prison terms without chance 
of parole given to otherwise worthy young people.

I've been singing this tune for about 35 years, since the first Delaware 
politician hit upon the idea of passing minimum mandatory sentences to win 
votes from poorly informed, frightened citizens. I welcome Ned Carpenter to 
the fray. I hope he provokes some serious thinking about the state's 
expensive excesses. This suggests to me that even solid citizens are 
beginning to see through Delaware's costly, fraudulent punishment scheme.

The United States may not be winning its war on drugs, but I am sure that 
unilateral surrender now would only encourage more addiction, more 
heartbreak and more cheap politics.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D