Letter: Costly Drug War Only Fuels Crime
Robert Sharpe
December 8, 2008
Baltimore Sun (MD)
Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market for drugs ("Legalizing drugs: The money argument," Dec. 2).
Illegal drug dealers don't ID young drug purchasers for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences into the drug trade.
Throwing more money into the war on drugs is no solution.
Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. And in the case of addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase their criminal activity to feed desperate habits.
The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. Taxing and regulating marijuana, the most popular illicit drug, would be a cost-effective alternative to never-ending drug war.
As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized crime, its consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like heroin.
The fact that marijuana thus serves as a "gateway" to other drugs is the direct result of marijuana prohibition.
And given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol - the plant has never been shown to cause an overdose death - it makes no sense to waste tax dollars on failed policies that help finance organized crime and facilitate the use of hard drugs.
Drug policy reform may send the wrong message to children. But I like to think the children are more important than the message. | 
