Toward a New Foreign Policy.

The public is losing faith that enforcement is the most effective strategy. In February 1995, 50% of the U.S. public gave the federal government a grade of F or D for its handling of the drug problem; only 10% gave the government an A or B.

In the short term, increasing the availability of drug treatment on demand would be the most important and effective policy initiative. Drug treatment is not perfect--many addicts relapse. But relapse rates are comparable to the rates of those who fail to change their behavior ,n dealing with chronic diseases such as diabetes or hypertension. Over time, many addicts are successful in quitting. A leading California study found treatment to be seven times as cost effective as imprisonment. A RAND Corporation analysis found that cocaine consumption could be reduced by 1% by spending $783 million in source countries, $366 million on international interdiction, $246 million on domestic enforcement, or just $34 million on treatment.

About two million addicts were treated in 1996, but 3.3 million were unable to get treatment. The percentage of prisoners getting drug treatment in prison has decreased during the 1990s. For the poor and uninsured, publicly funded treatment is almost nonexistent.

Evaluations have found current youth drug-prevention-through-abstinence programs almost totally ineffective. Given that 50% of U.S. youth end up experimenting with drugs, a safety-first message needs to be adopted instead of focusing on total abstinence. Promoting responsible use is the current policy with alcohol, i.e., suggesting the use of designated drivers. A responsible-use approach to drugs would be honest, acknowledging that most youths stop with drug experimentation and do not become addicts. Often programs that have nothing to do with drugs directly, such as Big Brother/Big Sister, have dramatic effects in reducing youth drug use.

Drug abuse by women has been increasing in the U.S., while male drug abuse has been declining. More research regarding female drug abusers, as well as treatment programs for women, is vitally needed. In addition, discriminatory policies toward women should be stopped. Women should not be forced to give up their children to enter drug treatment programs. Regrettably, the state of New York had to be sued before it would provide drug treatment to pregnant addicts.

Ninety percent of new AIDS cases among children under 13 are due to the sharing of used injection equipment by mothers or fathers. All these cases could be prevented if the nearly universal recommendations of public health authorities for syringe exchange were followed by Congress and the executive branch.

Sentences for drug offenses need to be reduced dramatically. Sixty percent of federal prisoners are drug offenders, and federal drug sentences are longer than those imposed for many violent crimes. Drug offenders should not be singled out for additional penalties, such as eviction from housing or denial of aid for higher education--especially when persons convicted of violent crimes are not subject to such penalties.

Physicians should be encouraged to prescribe marijuana and other appropriate pain relief. Studies show that doctors undertreat pain for 40%-80% of their terminally ill patients.

Current public debate of alternative drug strategies is reminiscent of the reaction faced by Galileo in the 17th century. Political cowardice and hot-button rhetoric too often dominate official discussion of drug policy. Clinton's drug czar, Col. Barry McCaffrey, recently attacked the governor of New Mexico's suggestion of drug legalization as "irresponsible." A decade ago, Bush's drug czar characterized discussion of drug legalization as "morally reprehensible." Yet the drug problem will not disappear by suppressing discussion of alternative strategies. Independent blue-ribbon commissions, faith communities, civic organizations, and service clubs must undertake rational, cost-benefit, top-to-bottom reviews of drug strategies.

The reality is that licensed and taxed drug distribution systems would be substantially less violent, less expensive, and more effective than prohibition. Drug users would not need to be imprisoned, thus liberating substantial resources to pay for treatment. A regulated drug industry would pay tens of billions of dollars in taxes.

An enlightened drug policy would recognize that drug use and drug abuse are two different matters, and such a policy would focus on reducing drug abuse. America has a genius for regulation, but that genius has not yet been applied

to the drug problem.

Key Recommendations

* Reducing harm both from drugs and from antidrug policies is key to achieving a healthier, safer, more sober society.

* Emotionally charged political discussion of drug policy must be replaced by honest study and nonrational discussion in the private sector.

* In the absence of comprehensive control by means of licencing, taxation, and regulation of the drug trade and drug use (for example legalization), there is little likelihood that the drug problem will change significantly.

Sources for More Information

Organizations

Common Sense for Drug Policy
3220 N St. NW, No. 141
Washington, DC 20007
Voice: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: http://www.csdp.org

The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
1225 Eye St. NW, Ste. 500
Washington, DC 20005
Voice: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Website: http://www.cjpf.org/

Drug Policy Foundation
4455 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. B-500
Washington, DC 20008-2328
Voice: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: http://www.dpf.org

Lindesmith Center
400 West 59th St., 3rd Fl.
New York, NY 10019
Voice: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: http://www.lindesmith.org

Publications

Jefferson Fish, Ed., How to Legalize Drugs (Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1998).

Mike Gray, Drug Crazy (New York: Random House, 1998).

Erich Goode, Drugs in American Society, 5th Ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 1998).

Michael Massing, The Fix (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998).

David E Musto, The American Disease, 3rd Ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).

National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, Drug Use in America: Problem in Perspective (Washington: GPO, 1973).

Websites

Drug Reform Coordination Network http://www.drcnet.org

Drug Sense http://www.drugsense.org

National Drug Strategy Network http://www.ndsn.org

Office of National Drug Control Policy http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov

Eric E. Sterling is President of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation.