Pubdate: Wed, 03 Jul 2002 Source: Chapel Hill News (NC) Copyright: 2002 Chapel Hill News Contact: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1081 Author: Noreen Ordronneau DRUG POLICY IS FAILURE The recent visit of Colombia's President-elect, Alvaro Uribe, has garnered considerable media attention, and rightfully so. He won an unprecedented landslide victory in Colombia's presidential elections just a month ago. He was elected largely as a backlash to the failed policies of his predecessor Andres Pastrana to end their country's civil war. President-elect Uribe was expected to seek a shift in his country's strategies for ending their half-century old civil conflict. However, last week during his tour of Washington, Uribe simply clamored for more of the same. More guns, more helicopters, more freedom in how they can use them; in essence, more violence. It's time we as U.S. taxpayers demand from Washington a new approach to Colombia and to the war on drugs. We would be hard-pressed to find a more colossal failure than our current policies towards our war-ravaged South American neighbor. We continue to commit the gross error of failing to address the true causes of the conflict. It is time to replace our failed "Drug War" policies that have only managed to hurt innocent Colombian farmers, bloat our jails, increase the availability of illicit drugs in the United States and waste our tax dollars all at the same time, for more sensible ones. I can think of no better use of our money than to fund treatment-on-demand for the over one million United States citizens that are still waiting for one of the coveted spots in a drug rehabilitation clinic. Curbing our own drug habit would do more to help Colombia solve its internal conflict than all the military aid that Washington can muster. And this way we will be helping ourselves (and Colombia) rather than supporting a military with the worst human rights record in the hemisphere. Noreen Ordronneau Carrboro - --- MAP posted-by: Beth