Pubdate: Mon, 20 Apr 2009
Source: Daily Reveille (Louisiana State U, LA Edu)
Copyright: 2009 Daily Reveille
Contact: http://www.lsureveille.com/submit_a_letter
Website: http://www.lsureveille.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2879

AMERICA'S DRUG POLICY NEEDS TO BE REFORMED, REPACKAGED

Many of the most credible media outlets - from CNN's Ted Turner to 
CBS's Walter Cronkite, from the conservative Wall Street Journal to 
the liberal New York Times - have labeled America's War on Drugs an 
abject failure.

We stand by that assessment.

In opining on the Vietnam War, a critic offered that America was 
fighting an invisible enemy in an undeclared war backed by a silent 
majority. As with most wars of similar circumstance, an invisible 
enemy indicates no clear path for victory.

It doesn't take an Einstein to understand that expecting entirely 
different results from the same tried methods constitutes insanity.

Many solutions to the nation's drug problems further complicate the 
same problems the War on Drugs seeks to eliminate.

Drug policies are in serious need of reform. As they stand now, 
policies are better at wasting money and diverting resources from 
solutions than they are at curbing the rise of drug use or its 
societal aftermath.

In a timeline of the drug war, PBS noted during the Richard Nixon 
era, the majority of funding aimed at drug abuse went to treatment 
rather than law enforcement.

This was the only time in the history of the War on Drugs that fiscal 
policy provided a somewhat sound budget to combat illicit drug abuse.

The drug war is far from over. But rather than ending the war - which 
isn't possible without either side forfeiting - it should be 
relabeled, repackaged and reinstituted to combat real, rather than 
percieved, threats.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart