Pubdate: Tue, 28 Jun 2005
Source: Muskogee Daily Phoenix (OK)
Copyright: 2005 Muskogee Daily Phoenix
Contact: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3319

REASSESS DRUG WAR GRANTS

The United States has an illegal drug addiction, which in the last 50 
years, it has been unsuccessful at alleviating.

Tons of illegal drugs cross into the country each year, and local law 
enforcement agencies then have to deal with the presence of those drugs 
within their communities.

Through the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program, the federal 
government has funded local law agencies in the drug war. Local Muskogee 
County officials estimate about 60 percent of the funds for its drug task 
force, $150,000 this year, comes from the Byrne grant. Without it, the 
officials say, drug fighting efforts would be severely hampered.

Yet the White House is proposing an elimination of the grant in 2006. And 
it is doing it for some good reasons: reports of scandals in the misuse of 
those funds by several agencies across the United States, false drug 
convictions, and task forces receiving money and vehicles in exchange for 
dropping or lowering charges against drug offenders.

First, abuses of the program, or any funding program, should not be 
tolerated, and any federal program should include safeguards that prevent 
abuse by those receiving the funds.

However, if the federal government wants to end the Byrne grants, then it 
needs to reassess its approach to the U.S. drug problem. The drug war has 
had little success. In the decades-long struggle, the battlegrounds change, 
but the intensity of the battles has not.

We don't have all the answers, but we don't advocate more jail time for 
drug offenders. Locking up users is getting us nowhere. They need 
counseling, rehabilitation programs.

If money is going to be thrown at the problem, then it needs to be directed 
at the suppliers. Local law agencies will complain they are being 
shortchanged, but perhaps the White House is correct. If these funds have 
been contributing to abuse and done little to alleviate drug abuse, then 
let's make meaningful changes.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom