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Drug bust in Syracuse was just 'mowing the grass,' says advocate for legalization (Commentary)
Inge Fryklund, JD, PhD, is a former prosecutor who lives in Oregon. She is now a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), 150,000 law enforcement professionals and supporters in 128 countries who have concluded that the war on drugs is a danger to public health and safety.
By Inge Fryklund
In late September, the New York Attorney General announced a drug bust in Syracuse resulting from a nine-month long investigation -- 34 people arrested for dealing $1 million worth of heroin and cocaine.
Sounded like a big success -- but was it really? It seems more like mowing the grass. As long as there is demand, there will be supply. Taking these 34 people off the streets just means that others will take their places, and the jockeying for position usually means increased violence. The drug trade will go on, with no net effect on prices or availability.
To a drug cartel, the loss of $1 million worth of product is just a cost of doing business. It is a very minor "fine" given the size of the drug economy. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recently estimated that the ultimate street value of just the opium products coming out of Afghanistan was $68 billion per year.
While seizures are a minor cost to cartels, all the costs of enforcement are real money for our communities. Given all our needs for education, economic development and infrastructure, we do not have millions to spare.
The current punitive policy does absolutely nothing to address all the problems associated with illegal drugs. An illegal market is necessarily criminal, and that entails violence and corruption. Drugs of unknown potency and purity are sold to kids by vendors who have every incentive to push stronger and more profitable products. Heroin users die of overdoses on adulterated product.
We have left all decisions about distribution, sales, potency and purity up to the
criminals. We are reactive, bringing in law enforcement after the damage has been done, and the cycle continues, year after year. This story is repeated in the Post-Standard so often that the reporters could "dust" off the previous copy, change the numbers and publish it.
This is the same strategy we pursued during Prohibition of Alcohol (1920-1933), with the same disastrous results. We need to rethink. A regime under which drugs are regulated will do a far better job of reducing violence, keeping drugs out of the hands of kids, and preventing overdoses. Regulation allows us to be proactive -- and only if something is legal is it possible for the community to implement a regulatory system.
Since 1994, Switzerland has pursued just such an approach to heroin. Any addict can come to a government clinic to get heroin. There have been no deaths from overdose, and dramatic drops in crime, patients selling heroin, and HIV and hepatitis transmission. Kids see nothing glamorous about a government clinic, so experimentation is down. Portugal decriminalized small amounts of all drugs in 2001. They report that teenage use is falling, HIV transmission is down, and treatment is up.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy (including Kofi Annan, Paul Volcker, George Shultz, and the former presidents of Poland, Chile, Switzerland, Colombia, Mexico and Portugal) just issued "Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work," arguing that the worldwide war on drugs has been a costly and damaging failure and should be replaced by a regulatory system.
continued here http://www.syracuse.com/opinion/ind...e_grass_says_advocate_for_legalization_c.html
Inge Fryklund, JD, PhD, is a former prosecutor who lives in Oregon. She is now a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), 150,000 law enforcement professionals and supporters in 128 countries who have concluded that the war on drugs is a danger to public health and safety.
By Inge Fryklund
In late September, the New York Attorney General announced a drug bust in Syracuse resulting from a nine-month long investigation -- 34 people arrested for dealing $1 million worth of heroin and cocaine.
Sounded like a big success -- but was it really? It seems more like mowing the grass. As long as there is demand, there will be supply. Taking these 34 people off the streets just means that others will take their places, and the jockeying for position usually means increased violence. The drug trade will go on, with no net effect on prices or availability.
To a drug cartel, the loss of $1 million worth of product is just a cost of doing business. It is a very minor "fine" given the size of the drug economy. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recently estimated that the ultimate street value of just the opium products coming out of Afghanistan was $68 billion per year.
While seizures are a minor cost to cartels, all the costs of enforcement are real money for our communities. Given all our needs for education, economic development and infrastructure, we do not have millions to spare.
The current punitive policy does absolutely nothing to address all the problems associated with illegal drugs. An illegal market is necessarily criminal, and that entails violence and corruption. Drugs of unknown potency and purity are sold to kids by vendors who have every incentive to push stronger and more profitable products. Heroin users die of overdoses on adulterated product.
We have left all decisions about distribution, sales, potency and purity up to the
criminals. We are reactive, bringing in law enforcement after the damage has been done, and the cycle continues, year after year. This story is repeated in the Post-Standard so often that the reporters could "dust" off the previous copy, change the numbers and publish it.
This is the same strategy we pursued during Prohibition of Alcohol (1920-1933), with the same disastrous results. We need to rethink. A regime under which drugs are regulated will do a far better job of reducing violence, keeping drugs out of the hands of kids, and preventing overdoses. Regulation allows us to be proactive -- and only if something is legal is it possible for the community to implement a regulatory system.
Since 1994, Switzerland has pursued just such an approach to heroin. Any addict can come to a government clinic to get heroin. There have been no deaths from overdose, and dramatic drops in crime, patients selling heroin, and HIV and hepatitis transmission. Kids see nothing glamorous about a government clinic, so experimentation is down. Portugal decriminalized small amounts of all drugs in 2001. They report that teenage use is falling, HIV transmission is down, and treatment is up.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy (including Kofi Annan, Paul Volcker, George Shultz, and the former presidents of Poland, Chile, Switzerland, Colombia, Mexico and Portugal) just issued "Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work," arguing that the worldwide war on drugs has been a costly and damaging failure and should be replaced by a regulatory system.
continued here http://www.syracuse.com/opinion/ind...e_grass_says_advocate_for_legalization_c.html
