Pubdate: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 Source: Irish Times, The (Ireland) Copyright: 2001 The Irish Times Contact: 11-15 D'Olier St, Dublin 2, Ireland Fax: + 353 1 671 9407 Website: http://www.ireland.com/ Author: P. Bowler Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n246/a11.html REAPPRAISAL OF DRUGS Sir, - Eddie Holt's article (February 10th) concerning our society's many conflicting perceptions of drug-taking warrants a great deal of praise. However, his call for a "realistic reappraisal" of the current situation is unfortunately naive. The status quo suits those middle-class politicians who can with pompous regularity declaim on such and such an initiative and hire ever more gardai but singularly fail to tackle the social conditions which can motivate young people to escape into heroin. It's not a problem which requires a great deal of intelligence to tackle. The current policy has failed, continues to fail and in fact there is no indication that it will ever be anything but a failure. There is no jurisdiction in the world, even those that regularly employ the death penalty, which has eliminated drug-taking. Surely the only response to something that doesn't work is to change it? Yet that "realistic reappraisal" is as a remote possibility now as it has ever been. May I respectfully suggest that halving an already bloated police force would free up huge amounts of resources for social workers, care workers, psychologists, etc. Or they could invest the money directly into the areas where drug-related crimes and deaths are greatest. Realistic? - Yours, etc., P. Bowler, Rathgar, Dublin 6. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager