Pubdate: Sun, 02 Aug 2015 Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Copyright: 2015 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Contact: http://www.stltoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418 Author: Robert Sharpe Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n424/a03.html WAR ON SOME DRUGS IS A POLICY FAILURE Thank you for making the case for drug decriminalization in the editorial "Descriminalizacao" (July 26). There is a misguided effort underway nationwide to replace the punitive drug war with drug courts. This effort is effectively a war on non-corporate drugs funded by taxpayers and carried out with the heavy hand of a bloated criminal justice system. Drug courts use drug tests and the threat of jail to force illicit drug users to switch to legal alcohol or prescription pharmaceuticals, both of which are arguably more harmful than marijuana, the most popular illicit drug. Coerced drug treatment is admittedly cheaper than incarceration. It's cheaper still to decriminalize drug use and leave adults who aren't harming others alone. Drug use and drug prohibition are two very different things. Drug prohibition fosters crime, corruption and violence. Incarcerating nonviolent consumers does absolutely nothing to reduce this collateral damage. The war on some drugs is an expensive policy failure. Creating a kinder, gentler drug war by marrying the for-profit prison industry to a growing for-profit treatment industry is not the answer. Robert Sharpe Washington, D.C. Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom