WAR ON DRUGS NEEDS FRESH LEADERSHIP, NEW APPROACH

As the war on terrorism enters its eighth month, many people are already
wondering when the end is in sight. Therefore you can realize the
frustration felt by those intimately involved, in one way or the other, in
our never-ending 35-year war on drugs.

One in four deaths annually in the United States is directly attributable
to legal substance abuse. The number one culprit is tobacco, which is
responsible for 430,000 deaths, followed by more than 100,000
alcohol-related deaths. Fewer than 20,000 deaths annually are directly
linked to illegal drug use, a fact many people use to support ending the
costly war on drugs.

"Legalizing cocaine, heroin and other controlled substances is not the
answer," states Kevin Lewis, the executive director of Southwest Florida
Addiction Services (SWFAS). Lewis, who has been battling alcohol and drug
abuse at the agency for the past 14 years, the last eight years as
executive director, emphasizes that, "Green is the answer, green in the way
of more dollars for treatment for addiction."

The agency's workload is staggering. It works with the court system in
providing outpatient counseling and treatment for those placed on probation
for drug-related crimes and, in cooperation with the sheriff's office, it
works with prisoners in the stockade. Eighty percent of the 1,300 Lee
County prisoners are being held on drug-related charges. The agency also
works with the Department of Children and Families in providing treatment
for child abusers.

More than 70 percent of abusers have an alcohol or illegal drug problem.
Then there are those who come to the agency voluntarily to seek help with
their addictions. "Many of these addicts need long-term treatment and that
is expensive but not nearly as costly as incarceration for drug-related
crimes," points out Lewis. "Here in Lee County we could use three times as
much funding to handle all the problems."

The plea is echoed by County Judge Edward J. Volz, Jr., who presides over
one of the three drug courts established in Lee County where convicted
felons have an opportunity to avoid jail time by staying "clean" in a
closely monitored, year-long program. "We could double or triple my present
25-member enrollment if we had the funding," said Volz.

While the expenditures for prevention and treatment have increased
substantially in recent years, federal spending on supply-reduction
strategies has increased 12-fold in the past 20 years. Lewis contends that
this is a shortsighted policy. "We can't stop illicit drugs from coming
into the country as long as the demand remains high, but if we can
concentrate on treatment especially for the first time or casual users
before they become addicted then the demand for illicit drugs will shrink."

Before treatment, however, comes prevention and here in Lee County the
Coalition to Stop Drug Abuse is at the forefront of educating children
about the dangers of substance abuse. The coalition has a myriad of
programs including lecturing in the elementary schools and a mentoring
program where high schoolers counsel younger, troubled students.

All in all Lee County, with its juvenile assessment center opening up later
this year, is doing more than many Florida counties, but the problems of
substance abuse persist both locally and nationally. Perhaps it is the
combination of the hypocrisy inherent in our current drug policies and peer
pressure that causes so many in the 16- to 25-year age group to experiment
with illegal drugs, especially marijuana.

If I had a magic wand, I would legalize marijuana, a move now favored by 30
percent of our population. While heavy marijuana use can cause
disorientation, nothing has convinced me that its long term use will create
health problems as severe as those facing the 44 million Americans who
smoke tobacco or the 18 million with a drinking problem.

Heroin, cocaine and other hard drugs are another issue. Overdoses can be
fatal and long-term addiction is often a death sentence and public support
for legalization is minimal. Yet the problems of drug trafficking are
monumental. The link between illicit drug use and other crimes is visible
everyday in courtrooms and prisons.

Drug trafficking has helped to create a violent society with turf wars,
overflowing jails and the corruption of officials. It has also added a
sordid quality to law enforcement because of the necessity of using
undercover officers to combat trafficking. Again, with my magic wand I
would divert the billions spent on controlling the flow of illegal drugs
into this country into treatment centers with the hope that reduced demand
and oversupply will take most of the profit out of illegal drug sales.

In the absence of my magic wand, I hope that a national figure will emerge
who has the courage to convince this nation that another, more effective
approach is needed to bring an end to our 35-year-old war.