Pubdate: Mon, 15 Sep 2014
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2014 The Edmonton Journal
Contact: 
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Authors: Norman Temple and Joy Fraser
Note: Both authors are full professors at Athabasca University. 
Norman Temple, a nutrition professor, has a PhD in biochemistry. Joy 
Fraser is a professor of nursing and director of health 
administration. She has as PhD in education administration and is an 
education consultant for the World Health Organization.
Page: A13

'WAR ON DRUGS' AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY

Efforts Should Focus on Reducing Demand, Not Trying to Curb Sales

The "war on drugs" has been waged for 40 years and by any objective 
assessment is very far from being won.

The growing realization of this fact is fuelling the gradual move 
seen across many countries to decriminalize some aspects of drug 
production, sale and use. We argue here that pretty much all efforts 
to stop the production, transport and sale of drugs are a waste of 
time and money.

Instead, we need a radical change in policy.

Drugs are a commodity and follow the laws of market economics, much 
like most other commodities. The effectiveness of attempts to 
suppress the sale of illegal drugs should be assessed from that perspective.

If the war on drugs was achieving real success, there would be a 
shortage of supply. But evidently the opposite is true as shown by 
the ongoing violence between rival gangs engaged in the sale of 
drugs. Gang wars serve to eliminate competition and thereby expand 
market share. This clearly indicates that the drug gangs have a 
surplus of supply of popular drugs relative to the size of the 
market. If the drug gangs had a lack of supply, then they would not 
waste their time and risk long prison sentences by murdering members 
of rival gangs. Instead, they would focus on finding better ways to 
bring more drugs to the marketplace.

The abundance of supply is also demonstrated by the fact that in the 
many stories reported in the media about the problems experienced by 
drug users, the one challenge they never seem to face is finding a 
drug dealer ready to sell drugs. Drug users face many challenges 
(finding money to buy drugs, the risk of disease or arrest by the 
police) but if they have the money, the search for someone willing to 
sell drugs seems the least of their problems.

The above evidence clearly demonstrates that despite the best efforts 
by the police and customs officials, efforts to stop or even slow the 
flow of drugs have been to no avail. It is true that impressive 
amounts of drugs - sometimes multi-ton shipments - are regularly seized.

But we should avoid the mistake of believing that this has any 
meaningful impact on the flow of drugs.

Drug smuggling can be compared with the supply and sale of fruit in a 
supermarket. Around 10 per cent is unfit for sale and is thrown away. 
This has no impact on sales as supermarket managers plan for this and 
order an amount exceeding expected sales. Drug kingpins apply the 
same planning with their supply-chain management. "Success" by police 
and customs means merely that drug mules spend years in prison.

The war on drugs is driven by a combination of ideology and wishful thinking.

So what is the alternative? Quite simply, all resources should be 
concentrated on reducing demand. This strategy is based on the 
principle that a 10-per-cent reduction in demand for drugs will 
reduce consumption by 10 per cent. Reduced demand can be achieved by 
such means as education, counselling and drug rehabilitation.

About 20 years ago, the medical profession woke up to the realization 
that many treatments that had long been used by physicians are 
ineffective. This led to the birth of "evidence-based medicine."

We desperately need "evidence-based drug policy."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom