Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: Island Packet (SC)
Copyright: 2001,sThe Island Packet
Contact:  http://www.islandpacket.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1514
Author: Robert Sharpe
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

LOCAL DRUGS PROVE PROBLEM

To The Packet:

According to The Packet's Aug. 10 article, a former Drug Enforcement 
Administration agent living on Hilton Head Island has had 
14-year-olds tell him that drugs such as heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, 
marijuana and methamphetamine are readily available on the island. So 
much for protecting the children from drugs.

One has to wonder if these same 14-year-olds would be able to walk 
into a liquor store and purchase alcohol or tobacco.

Drug policies modeled after our disastrous experiment with alcohol 
prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal 
drug dealers do not ID for age, but they do push trendy, profitable 
"club drugs," regardless of the dangers posed.

There are cost-effective alternatives. In Europe, the Netherlands has 
successfully reduced overall drug use by replacing marijuana 
prohibition with regulation. Dutch rates of drug use are 
significantly lower than U.S. rates in every category.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets and establishing age 
controls for marijuana have proven more effective than 
zero-tolerance. Although pot is arguably safer than legal alcohol -- 
the plant has never been shown to cause an overdose death -- 
marijuana prohibition is deadly.

As the most popular illicit drug, marijuana provides the black market 
contacts that introduce users to harder drugs like heroin. This 
"gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy. Drug 
policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to 
think the children themselves are more important than the message.

Robert Sharpe, program officer The Lindesmith Center Drug Policy 
Foundation Washington, D.C.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Josh