Pubdate: Fri, 03 Aug 2012
Source: Morning News, The (Springdale, AR)
Copyright: 2012 The Stephens Media Group
Contact:  http://www.nwaonline.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/835
Author: Rick Fahr
Note: Rick Fahr is publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway

CAN WE WIN WAR ON ILLICIT DRUGS?

I live 50 or more miles from most places this column will appear, and 
I have a briefcase. So, I fit at least one definition of an "expert" 
on drugs. I'm not, though, really. I recognize a group of marijuana 
plants when I see them, but I don't know that I could pick one out of 
the underbrush passing by.

Put several "rocks" of different substances on my desk, and I don't 
know that I could pick out the crack or meth or whatever might be there.

I saw a big pile of what had to be cocaine one time, on a table in a 
bar in Florida. Pretty quickly, I determined that wasn't a place for me to be.

It's not that I have some squeaky-clean lifestyle or internal 
compass. It's that I've always been afraid of trying some sort of 
illicit drug - and liking it.

But in this line of work, you see a lot of drug cases come and go, a 
lot of lives ruined, and a lot of corruption that infects our society 
from top to bottom.

Drug addiction - even to prescription ones - respects no 
socioeconomic class or family history. Even the "best" people are not 
immune to the misuse of drugs. I've seen the son of a prominent 
family go crazy, tearing up his house, paranoid out of his mind. He 
lost everything.

I've seen folks who didn't have much of a chance to get out of their 
circumstances anyway fall prey to the drug life before they even had 
an opportunity to try to improve their lot. I've seen users go to 
jail while many dealers kept dealing. Don't suppose they're secretly 
rolling over on bigger fish while still peddling their dope, do you?

And all the while, we continue our "war on drugs." How are we doing on that?

I read the other day that cocaine production is down significantly in 
Colombia. That's a comfort.

U.S. troops are still patrolling through the poppy fields of 
Afghanistan, the world's supplier of heroin.

Of course, every redneck with some drain cleaner and a jar can make 
methamphetamine. There's even a tremendously popular program, 
"Breaking Bad," dedicated to the life (and death) of meth makers. 
Their world seems much more glamorous than that of the garden variety 
meth head in our neck of the woods.

Our government spends billions each year to fight drugs, but are we 
getting our money's worth? Doesn't appear so. To be sure, we've 
locked up thousands of drug users and more than a few dealers. Those 
prison beds cost more than most threestar hotel rooms over a year's 
time. What to do? Gaining ground is the legalization movement. 
Legalize drugs, the proponents say, then tax the heck outta them. Big 
revenue stream that could go toward treatment for addicts.

That answer has a couple of flaws. One, drugmakers and dealers are 
breaking laws now. What on earth would make them come out of the 
shadows to start paying taxes on their newly legal substances? Two, 
legalize drugs, and there wouldn't be enough money in the Treasury to 
treat the rush of folks who avoid drugs now out of fear they'll go to jail.

Is more education on the effects the answer? We always come back to 
education, but we've been educating the public on drugs and 
cigarettes and alcohol for a long time. Marlboro and AnheuserBusch 
don't seem to be doing too badly these days.

Do we throw up our hands and quit trying to eradicate drugs from our 
society? That can't be right.

There's an answer out there somewhere. What it is remains unclear. 
What is clear is who's winning and who's losing the drug war.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom