Pubdate: Sat, 11 Jun 2011
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2011 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165
Author: Glen Butler

WAR ON DRUGS POINTS

In response to the June 10 editorial "Our View: More reasons to end 
the drug war," there are several issues I'd like to address.

First, the term "war on drugs" is a misnomer: although that phrase 
has roots back in the Nixon era over four decades ago, it is no 
longer used by U.S. government officials, for a variety of reasons.

A primary reason is that the problem today is much larger than just 
drugs: Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) active in our 
region have expanded their "business" lines of operation into dozens 
of other illegal activities, including weapons and human trafficking, 
kidnapping, money laundering, extortion, agricultural/mineral/oil 
theft, piracy, and even gruesome, medieval-like crimes such as "body 
parts harvesting." Looking through the sole lens of drug trafficking 
minimizes the bigger picture.

Second, joining the growing chorus calling for "decriminalization" of 
drugs without considering the negative implications is irresponsible. 
Many media outlets have jumped to cite the recommendations of the 
Global Commission on Drug Policy's 2 June report this week, yet few 
have attempted to challenge the wisdom therein (perhaps because of 
the name recognition of some of its authors). A debate on 
legalization is beyond the scope of this letter, but a balanced start 
would be to look at some of the readily available information against 
such a plan, such as http://www.jus tice.gov/dea/ongoing/legalization .html.

Moreover, what drugs should be legalized? Where do you draw the line?

Finally, the elephant in our national dispensary is the fact that 
American demand for drugs is the real fuel behind this conflict. 
Rather than decriminalizing drug use -- which would not address the 
billions of our stressed economy already spent on drug-related health 
care and social costs -- a better approach would be to improve 
collective efforts at demand reduction.

Hollywood celebrities, political leaders, and yes -- newspaper 
editors -- could assist this effort greatly by helping to stigmatize 
and de-glamorize illicit drug use. And drug abusers would do well to 
remember that the next time they snort a line, there is likely blood 
on their hands that can be traced back to the streets of Juarez or Sinaloa.

Instead of criticizing government efforts to increase hemispheric 
security and safety and calling for an end to the "war" by legalizing 
drugs, we should be grateful to the Mexican security forces and U.S. 
Law Enforcement and other agencies courageously fighting the TCO 
scourge on our behalf.

Glen Butler

Colorado Springs
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom