DON'T ABANDON THE WAR ON DRUGS

Dissenters threaten all that Americans have won in this country's
long struggle against illegal drugs.

Over the course of many years, the War on Drugs successfully has
created a negative stigma against recreational drug use.

Ending the War on Drugs or softening the penalties for using drugs
would undermine this negative public perception by giving people the
idea that drug use is acceptable. It's almost certain that this would
cause a drastic increase in drug use.

The research of Dr. Herbet Kleber of the Columbia University Center
of Addiction and Substance Abuse suggests cocaine legalization would
trigger a five-fold increase in usage.

Arguments offered by Drug War abolitionists are questionable at best.
They claim the War on Drugs is inherently racist and cite the
difference in sentences for possession of crack (more widely used by
blacks) and possession of cocaine (more popular among whites).

But this is no argument for allowing either rock or nose candy to be
legal. This argument only demonstrates that the government ought to
strive for color-blind drug laws.

Another abolitionist argument 'that people should be able to choose
what goes in their bodies' works only so long as people embrace a
self-centered view of human rights, neglecting how substance abuse
hurts society by rendering people incapable of participating in their
communities.

Drug abusers cannot be productive workers, responsible family members
and good citizens.

Drug abuse is not a victimless crime. Society at large is victimized
by increased healthcare costs, which misdirect money that could be
better spent. Drug use negatively affects society in the way that
insider trading negatively affects the entire stock market.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimated that drug abuse cost
the country $97.7 billion in 1992, marking a 50 percent increase
(after accounting for population growth and inflation) from 1985. If
Drug War abolitionists demand to see the victim of substance usage,
they only need be shown the abused American tax payer.

Another rationale these abolitionists often use is that -- although
illegal drugs are bad -- tobacco, alcohol, caffeine and prescription
drugs are as bad or worse.

Again, this isn't an argument for legalizing illegal drugs. The only
conclusion you could draw from this is that these legal drugs also
should be outlawed.

If these illegal drugs suddenly were legalized, they would be subject
to the same mass-marketing campaign as tobacco and alcohol.

The legalization and regulation of currently controlled substances
would allow Big Cannabis, Big Blow and Big Opium to take their place
beside Big Tobacco and Budweiser and begin exposing even more
Americans to their addictive wares.

The War on Drugs must continue. To withdraw now would be an
abdication of the government's responsibility to lower the massive
cost of drug use on its people and to ensure the orderly functioning
of society.

Granted, the War on Drugs is flawed and needs to revised to be fairer
and more effective.

Mixed results and partial success, however, do not mean America
should abandon the fight any more than a parent should give up on a
problem child.

An admission of failure in the War on Drugs would be far worse than
the problems this effort has created.

The government should remove problems like racism from the execution
of the War on Drugs while striving for a better, more just and
drug-free society.