Pubdate: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 Source: Tulsa World (OK) Copyright: 1999, World Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.tulsaworld.com/ Author: Alex Adwin GUESS WHO'S WINNING THIS ONE Any doubts about whether we are losing the war on drugs ought to be put to rest by recent record confiscations of marijuana and a study showing that drugs are the major common characteristic of the recently arrested. Last week, state drug agents happened upon a 2,300-pound haul of marijuana in a tractor-trailer in Oklahoma City. That is more than two-thirds the amount seized by state agents in 1998, when 3,085 pounds were confiscated, and nearly half the 3,984 pounds rounded up in 1997. But these record grabs are only the tip of the iceberg. An Oklahoma City police official believes state agents find less than 10 percent of the illegal drugs flooding the state each year. And a state drug bureau agent says more marijuana is flowing into Oklahoma from Mexico than ever before. At the same time, law enforcement agents are busy tracking down methamphetamine labs in record numbers. These clandestine and easily assembled labs pop up overnight and disappear just as quickly. They have been found even in public parks. Oklahoma County has the highest rate of drug use among new arrestees in the country. A study under a U.S. Justice Department grant shows more than half the males arrested in Oklahoma County in 1998 tested positive for marijuana. The percentage was so high that researchers at first thought there had been a mistake, but further study verified the high count. The study continues with Oklahoma County likely to retain its first place rank among 35 cities under scrutiny. Obviously, the drug plague continues, tying up huge amounts of money in a failed law enforcement effort and forcing state corrections staff and county jailers to spend most of their effort on drug problems. For most ordinary citizens, the drug problem is disguised in crime. A majority of burglaries, assaults, thefts and robberies are committed by people either on drugs or needing money to buy drugs. Children are innocent victims. Too many of them come into the world hopelessly damaged because their mothers used drugs; others are abused horribly by parents or stepparents on drugs and still other innocents are victimized at school by classmates either on drugs or selling drugs. Gov. Frank Keating has declared anew that Oklahoma will get serious about its drug problem. We wish him well. Oklahomans -- and the rest of the country -- have been fighting the war on drugs for decades. Drugs are winning. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea