Pubdate: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: Ian Jacobsen IT'S TIME TO RIDE A NEW HORSE IN THE `DRUG WAR' SO long as there is a market for illegal drugs and profit in selling them, there will be a supply. Going after suppliers is idiotic, as is jailing users. There is a market for these drugs because we have failed to equip a portion of society with the skills to deal with the realities of life. Drugs are a way to retreat from reality. What is needed is to decriminalize drug use, regulate and tax drugs, as Joanne Jacobs (Opinion, Oct. 14) and New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson suggest, and provide users with drug treatment and life skills education. While these steps will not eliminate drug use, they will reduce the profit potential and amount of crime associated with drugs, and provide the revenue to support wider scale prevention and treatment. What is the probability that drugs will be decriminalized, regulated and taxed? That is hard to say. There are strong vested interests in the status quo. Change would admit that several generations of past efforts have failed. There are many people who gain their livelihood from the ``war on drugs.'' I am reminded of an old adage told me by one of my colleagues: ``If the horse you have been riding dies, get off.'' Seems like sound advice. Yet, many people who find themselves on a dead horse have tried: Buying a stronger whip. Appointing a committee to study the horse. Increasing the standards for riding a dead horse. Developing a new style for riding dead horses. None of these things deals with the basic problem. Efforts up to now to stem the tide of drugs have been like trying to ride a dead horse. They have been monstrously costly and monumentally ineffective. It is now time to face reality, learn from the past, and try something different. Ian Jacobsen Santa Clara - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea