Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 Source: The Post and Courier (SC) Copyright: 2002 Evening Post Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.charleston.net/index.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/567 Author: Mett Ausley Jr., MD Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n2125/a02.html DRUG DEALERS Your Dec. 24 editorial "Help police stem violence" describes a scenario as familiar as a tired rerun: Authorities crack down on drug-dealing hooligans, and the neighborhood enjoys temporary peace. Soon the dealers and violence are back, and residents resign themselves to the futility of reporting drug activity, as you note in your call for their cooperation in helping police "put the drug dealers out of business." These residents know firsthand what more of us are beginning to recognize: Insatiable consumer demand for illegal intoxicants combined with adamant prohibition create irresistible profit potential for criminals and ensure an intractable, permanently entrenched black market. Like fire ants, the drug dealers can be briefly suppressed or relocated, but not eliminated. Among the many evils of this situation is violence, with innocents frequently caught in the cross fire. Systematic efforts to reduce individual drug use have met with limited success, and, from a law enforcement perspective, there are few, if any, untried options. The outlook is for this stalemate to go on indefinitely. It is time to start thinking outside the box and confront the heretofore sacred cow that obstructs progress: prohibition itself. Those with a rigid moral perspective or vested interest in the status quo can be expected to oppose the legal but regulated distribution of currently illicit intoxicants, but denial must be overcome and admission made that current policy has failed. The violent drug dealers can and should be put out of business, but in the business world, the demise of one's rivals is brought about by competition, not rhetoric, posturing and repetitious application of provenly unsuccessful measures. METT AUSLEY JR., M.D., Lake Waccamaw, N.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager