Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jul 2008
Source: Albany Democrat-Herald (OR)
Copyright: 2008 Lee Enterprises
Contact: http://www.mvonline.com/support/contact/dhletter.html
Website: http://www.democratherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/7
Author: Norm Stamper
Note: Norm Stamper, who retired as Seattle police chief in 2000, is 
an advisory board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition ( 
www.leap.cc ).

ONE WAY OUT OF ENDLESS DRUG WAR

It's come to this. Meth addicts across the country are stealing fire 
hydrants -- and every other conceivable form of "scrap" metal from 
irrigation systems to gravestone plaques to the catalytic converter 
of your Chevy --to finance their addiction.

States and local communities have passed all kinds of legislation, 
the toughest of all in Oregon, to restrict the sale of 
pseudo-ephedrine and other "precursor" drugs in order to combat the 
scourge of "home cooking." And many jurisdictions are considering (or 
have passed) legislation requiring scrap metal buyers and sellers to 
identify themselves, record sales, and to submit, upon request, said 
information to the local police.

Yet every time a kitchen (or motel room or car trunk) lab is shut 
down another crops up to take its place, ensuring the continued 
presence of toxic and explosive chemicals -- and grave dangers to the 
cookers and their families (too often including young children), 
emergency responders, and entire neighborhoods.

Even those communities that have enjoyed some success in limiting the 
number of homegrown labs have been unable to wipe out illegal 
methamphetamine use. The drug, imported from other jurisdictions, 
especially from Mexico these days, continues to flood the illicit 
market, and to feed methamphetamine addiction.

One thing we know about addicts? They'll prostitute themselves, sell 
drugs, and/or steal from you and me in order to finance their 
addiction. The most common source of their income, by far, is theft. 
My burglary detectives in Seattle told me in the late nineties that 
upwards of 90 percent of their cases involved suspects who broke into 
houses, garages and automobiles, ripping off valuables and fencing 
the property for 20 cents on the dollar. Or a nickel (those fire 
hydrants in California netted the crooks only five dollars worth of brass).

The answer? End drug prohibition. Legalize, tax, regulate, and 
control all drugs, not only meth.

Think about it. The legal prohibition of alcohol failed not only to 
curb its use, it created an entire criminal industry, giving rise to 
unprecedented levels of violence with the gunning down of rival 
dealers and innocent bystanders. It ensured obscene, untaxed profits 
for traffickers and other racketeers. Further, drug overdoses, in the 
form of bad bathtub gin, produced record numbers of hospital 
admissions and deaths, directly attributable to the Volstead Act.

Thirteen years of alcohol prohibition turned out to be a colossal 
failure. Its repeal in 1933 ushered in an era of government 
regulation and control, of sanity and enhanced community safety.

But even if it makes economic sense to end drug prohibition, doesn't 
legalization send the wrong message to our children? Not when we 
consider that today our kids have greater access to illicit drugs (at 
lower prices and higher potency than at any time in the history of 
the drug war) than they do to alcohol and tobacco.

Doesn't it make more sense to have the government, imperfect as it 
is, regulate and control these drugs, rather than leaving all 
decisions in the hands of illicit traffickers?

And what message are we sending when year after year we pump tens of 
billions of dollars into the $1 trillion drug war, only to make matters worse?

A regulated, legal industry would create the financial wherewithal to 
sustain proven education and prevention programs, reduce drug abuse, 
shrink kids' access to dangerous drugs, and provide treatment to 
those many addicts who'd like nothing better than to kick their 
illness. And to stop stealing scrap metal.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake