Pubdate: Mon, 11 Dec 2000
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 2000, Newsday Inc.
Contact:  (516)843-2986
Website: http://www.newsday.com/
Author: Robert Sharpe
Note: The writer is a program officer for the Lindesmith Center, a 
not-for-profit drug-policy foundation.
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1801/a04.html

DRUG INTERDICTION

Regarding the article on Sen. Paul Wellstone's (D-Minn.) opposition to Plan 
Colombia, the $1.3- billion drug eradication plan ["Wellstone Continues 
Drug Fight," Dec. 2]: Human rights violations are one of many valid reasons 
to oppose American involvement in Colombia. Plan Colombia, like the drug 
war itself, has been doomed from the start. Even if every last coca plant 
in Colombia were somehow destroyed, Americans would continue to get high. 
Cut off the flow of cocaine, and domestic methamphetamine production will 
boom to meet the demand for cocaine-like drugs. Thanks to past successes at 
eradicating marijuana in Latin America, the corresponding increase in 
domestic cultivation has made pot America's No. 1 cash crop. As long as 
there is a demand, there will be a supply.

Drug interdiction efforts only increase the profitability of drug 
trafficking and are tantamount to price supports for organized crime. With 
organized crime comes corruption, and America is not immune. The ongoing 
scandal at the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart station is but one 
example.

This insidious corruption stretches from coast to coast and reaches the 
highest levels. Entire countries have been destabilized due to the 
corrupting influence of organized-crime groups that profit from the illegal 
drug trade.

Drug laws fuel organized crime and corruption, which is then used to 
justify increased drug war spending. It's time to end this madness and 
start treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, like the public 
health problem that it is.

Robert Sharpe, Washington, DC

Editor's Note: The writer is a program officer for the Lindesmith Center, a 
not-for-profit drug-policy foundation.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D