Pubdate: Mon, 12 Sep 2005
Source: Herald Journal, The (UT)
Copyright: 2005 The Herald Journal
Contact:  http://www.hjnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2485
Author: Kirk Muse

DRUG POLICY INSANE, STUPID

To the editor:

I'm writing about: "Drug task force celebrates accomplishments on T-shirt" 
(9-07-05).

Drug task forces are just government bureaucracies. And like all government 
bureaucracies -- guaranteed to expand. Why? Because heads of the 
bureaucracies get paid in direct proportion to how many employees work 
under them, not according to how well they perform their mission.

Throwing more and more money at our drug problem is not the answer. We have 
been doing this for more than 35 years. The net results are that illegal 
drugs are just as available today as they were in 1969. The only thing that 
changes is the name of the evil drug du jour.

Today the evil drug du jour is meth. A few years ago it was crack cocaine 
and before that something else.

I'd like to add that in 1969 the U.S. federal drug enforcement budget was 
$65 million. Last year it was $19.2 billion. (These figures don't include 
the cost of incarceration nor the state and local costs.)

The $19.2 billion is greater than a 29,500 percent increase. If the price 
of coffee which sold for 25 cents a cup in 1969 had increased at the same 
rate, we would now be paying almost $75 for a cup of coffee. More than $75 
with sales tax.

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and 
expecting a different result. It's also a good definition of stupidity.

Our nation's drug policy has been both insane and stupid. It's time to do 
something different -- substantially different.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, AZ 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman