Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 Source: Herald-Dispatch, The (WV) Copyright: 2002 The Herald-Dispatch Contact: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/hdinfo/letters.html Website: http://www.hdonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1454 Author: Robert Sharpe DRUG REFORM SHOULD SEND RIGHT MESSAGE Increasing penalties are not the remedy to the methamphetamine problem. If tough penalties served to deter drug use, this country would have achieved the impossible goal of a "drug-free" America years ago. Thanks to the war on some drugs, America now has the highest incarceration rate in the world. West Virginia's hazardous meth labs are reminiscent of the deadly exploding liquor stills that sprang up throughout the nation during alcohol prohibition. Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don't ID for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences. In Europe, the Netherlands has 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 has proven more effective than zero tolerance. In the United States, marijuana provides the black market contacts that introduce consumers to drugs like meth. 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 are more important than the message. Robert Sharpe Drug Policy Alliance Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom