Pubdate: Mon, 14 May 2001
Source: Bergen Record (NJ)
Copyright: 2001 Bergen Record Corp.
Contact:  http://www.bergen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/44
Author: Carl Hiaasen
Note: Carl Hiaasen writes for the Miami Herald.

WHEN WILL WE REALIZE THE FUTILITY OF THE DRUG WAR?

THIS IS SOME WAR, this war on drugs. Tracked by a CIA jet, an unarmed 
Cessna carrying American missionaries is shot out of the sky by a Peruvian 
air force chase plane. Bullets kill Ronnie Bowers, 35, and her 7-month-old 
daughter, Charity.

Oops, says Peru. Oops, says the United States. Bad mistake, folks. We're 
really, really sorry. But what if the Cessna had been ferrying dopers, as 
first suspected? Would the shoot-down have put even a spoon-size dent in 
the mountain of cocaine that's shipped out of South America every month?

Nope. This is some war. U.S. taxpayers spend almost $2 billion annually to 
fight drug smugglers in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and other producer 
countries. We've sent troops and "trainers" and some of our fanciest toys: 
ground radars, AWACs planes, Citations, Blackhawk attack helicopters, Huey 
transports, you name it. The results? Cocaine is as cheap and bountiful as 
ever. Heroin, made from Colombian-grown poppies, is going gangbusters.

On the home front, pot is readily available in a smorgasbord of potent 
domestic strains. For clubbers, it's easier to score Ecstasy tablets than 
Altoids.

The drug war has taken on an air of weary charade. Cops posing as crack 
dealers lock up buyers by the vanload. Other cops posing as buyers lock up 
the dealers. Next night, they go out and do it all over again. Not a week 
passes in Miami without TV reporters hustling to the scene of some 
"late-breaking" bust: another cargo container at the port, another rusty 
freighter on the river, another grow-house in the suburbs.

It's the same old scene over and over: the seizure, the press conference, 
the dope laid out for trophy display -- as if it actually amounted to 
something. It doesn't.

Walk out the door, and you still can find any drug you want, anytime of the 
day, without burning more than a few gallons of gas. This is true almost 
everywhere in the country. Dope is still abundant not because the cops and 
the feds are inept; for the most part, narcotics officers are good at what 
they do. Unfortunately, the mission is utterly futile, no matter how many 
tons they intercept, or how much cash they seize.

Nor has arresting people accomplished much except filling our jails and 
prisons beyond capacity. Twenty years ago, about 46,000 Americans were 
incarcerated for drug crimes. Today, there are 10 times as many. That 
number would be impressive if it had led to a commensurate reduction in 
trafficking, but it hasn't.

Still, everybody's got a piece of the action -- the DEA, the FBI, CIA, 
Customs, the Coast Guard, the military, and thousands of local police 
agencies. The anti-drug infrastructure is as vast as it is scattered, 
bureaucracy piled upon bureaucracy. Like most wars, this one has become a 
big business for both sides.

According to the Justice Department, the DEA's budget has grown from about 
$75 million in 1973 to $1.55 billion last year. During that same period, 
the total federal anti-drug budget mushroomed from $700 million to $17.8 
billion.

By the government's own estimate, more than $185 billion in tax dollars has 
been spent trying to stamp out dope over the last 27 years -- with 
virtually no change in the illicit supply, or in the cost. To say the drug 
war is a failure is like saying the Hindenburg was short a few fire 
extinguishers.

The only hopeful news on the drug front comes from the least glamorous 
approach -- education and rehabilitation. Recent surveys show that grass 
and cocaine use have leveled off or declined among teenagers. Meanwhile, 
many states have stopped jailing first- and second-time offenders because 
it costs too much, and it doesn't deter them from using again.

Instead, special drug courts steer defendants toward treatment programs, 
sobriety, and gainful employment. Attacking the demand for drugs is a slow 
and frustrating process, but it's more cost-effective than chasing after 
bandit suppliers, who are replaced as soon as they crash or get busted.

There's exactly zero chance of stopping coca cultivation in Colombia and 
Peru as long as Americans back home are sucking down crack by the metric 
ton. Yet after all these years and billions of dollars, Washington still 
doesn't get it. We're still playing the star-spangled cowboy, chasing 
Cessnas across the Amazon.

This is some screwed-up war.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens