Pubdate: Thur, 30 Dec 1998 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html Copyright: 1998 The Sacramento Bee MISGUIDED DRUG POLICY TREATMENT IN U.S. BETTER THAN HELICOPTERS IN MEXICO After years of experience and billions of dollars spent trying, the Clinton administration has come to the realization that the use of U.S. military hardware and trainers to thwart the drug trade in Mexico has too often been a waste of money and effort. An ambitious program to train and equip the Mexican army to intercept drug traffickers has ground to a halt, stymied by mechanical problems -- helicopters that don't work well, for example -- and worse -- suspicions that the U.S. military efforts may actually be inadvertently abetting the drug trade and corruption in Mexico and working to destabilize civilian rule in that country. As one frustrated Clinton administration official quoted in the New York Times said, "The question basically is: How do we get out of this box?" The United States can't abandon all efforts to prevent foreign drugs from entering the country. Nonetheless, according to both U.S. and Mexican officials, the current endeavor in Mexico is not working. Why not acknowledge that and look for a better way? Seeking to solve America's drug problems with expensive military ventures in foreign countries has always been a dubious strategy -- whether in Mexico or Colombia. If the aim is to reduce illegal drug consumption in the United States, researchers have long argued that money would be much better spent on law enforcement efforts here -- or, even better, on treatment. A 1994 study by the Rand Corp. concluded that dollar for dollar, drug treatment here is far more effective in reducing cocaine use than going after street traffickers or chasing smugglers from foreign countries, a tactic that Rand rated as the least effective. Specifically, the study calculated that an additional $34 million spent in drug treatment would reduce cocaine consumption in this country by 1 percent. In stark contrast, it would require $366 million to produce the same 1 percent reduction with local law enforcement and a whopping $738 million to produce the same results with border interdiction and source-country controls. Despite its proven efficacy, drug treatment remains woefully underfunded. Thus while an estimated 114,177 addicts and alcoholics languish in California prisons in 1998, only 13,000 receive any drug treatment at all. Nationwide the federal government spends only 20 percent of the $17 billion allocated for drug control annually on treatment. Much of the money that goes to buy helicopters and train Mexican soldiers would be better spent on the streets of America to fight addiction. It's time to put greater emphasis on the demand for drugs and less on flailing helplessly to stop the supply. - --- Checked-by: Don Beck