Pubdate: Sat, 01 Dec 2001
Source: Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Copyright: The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2001
Contact:  http://www.bangkokpost.co.th/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/39
Author: Robert Sharpe

WAR ON DRUGS DOES NOT WORK

The fact that the drug war cannot keep drugs out of Bangkok's Bang Khwang 
Central Prison, much less schools, is indicative of its inherent failure. 
The entrenched interests riding the drug war gravy-train claim they are 
fighting crime.

Unfortunately, the zero-tolerance approach to drugs does just the opposite. 
Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant 
only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. In terms of addictive 
drugs like methamphetamines, a spike in street prices leads desperate 
addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits.

The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. When alcohol prohibition 
was repealed in the United States in 1933, liquor producers stopped killing 
each other in turf battles and consumers no longer had to worry about 
blindness from drinking unregulated bathtub gin.

While US politicians continue to use the drug war's collateral damage to 
justify its intensification, European countries are embracing harm 
reduction, a public health alternative based on the principle that both 
drug use and drug prohibition have the potential to cause harm.

Examples of harm reduction include needle exchange programmes to stop the 
spread of HIV, marijuana regulation aimed at separating the hard and soft 
drug markets, and a range of drug treatment alternatives that do not 
require incarceration as a prerequisite.

America's bizarre practice of putting drug users in drug-filled prisons is 
certainly not cost-effective. Despite the historical precedent in alcohol 
prohibition, fear of appearing "soft on crime" compels many US politicians 
to support a punitive drug policy that ultimately fuels organised crime and 
violence, while failing miserably at preventing use.

Thailand would be wise to ignore tough-on-drugs pressure from the US and 
instead adopt the harm reduction policies of Europe.

Robert Sharpe

MPA Programme Officer

The Lindesmith Centre - Drug PolicyFoundation

Washington DC
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MAP posted-by: Beth