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Dear Fed Up,
As a pediatrician,, I have to point out that in most states
tobacco is illegal if you're under 18, yet kids start smoking
at age 7 to 9. The drinking age is now 21, yet most kids begin
to drink by the time they are 12. So, how would you police the
use of more legal drugs, like marijuana or cocaine or whatever?
Certainly, such an approach would make drugs easier to get. The
use of drugs is directly proportional to their availability.
As I reported earlier, the Dutch learned that the hard way...
44% of their 18 year Olds are now users... Up from the 12% reported
before legalizing pot.
Celebrity advocates, from economic gurus to social and political
commentators, most with no understanding of addictive illness,
are popping up all over the place... feeding meat to the media
which needs controversy to sell papers and draw viewers.
Karst Besteman, the then Executive Director of the Alcohol
and Drug Problems Association of America, noted nearly a decade
ago that "the problem with the discussion is that we all
know what we don't like about the present situation and policies
but none of us has a clue as to how the proponents of legalization
would construct the legal distribution system and what its problems
would be."
Your question suggests that because you have problems with
the present group of policies and programs and that the only
alternative is to repudiate everything we are presently doing
and strike out on a radically different course.... that policies
of moderation, of reducing social and health costs, and of dealing
aggressively with the human pain and suffering present in all
addictions appear to be discredited. The public debate consists
of clashes between a position of maximum criminal penalties contrasted
to a position of no criminal sanctions. For those sincerely interested
in prevention,, treatment and rehabilitation, neither choice
is valid.
The 1990 Besteman article concluded that "there is a
critical need to revise the criminal penalties for drug trafficking,
possession, and conspiracy. We must begin to make decisions which
permit sure, swift justice and punishment for the crime. Just
as important within the criminal justice system, there must be
alternatives to prison available to the courts. The police are
arresting large numbers of persons on drugs related charges...
The courts are convicting few of them. There are many people
arrested, processed, and released with no appropriate intervention
regarding their alcohol or drug abuse.
It is now 1998 and still only about 10% of federal monies
is spent on prevention or treatment.... essential components
of any efforts to trim down the huge demand for drugs in this
country. Treatment centers throughout the country are going belly
up for lack of funds, while more of our kids are getting hooked
on drugs. Sou what do our esteemed senators do? They pass the
Coverdell-Craig amendment to the McCain anti-tobacco bill diverting
$16 billion (74%) of the public health dollars, to interdiction.
They pass the Gramm marriage penalty tax cut amendment, diverting
still another billion from programs designed to keep kids away
from the gateway drug to other addictions. Tobacco money wins
again!
Marijuana is the second only to corn as the highest money
crop in the country... "Legalize it? How much money do you
think will be spent to lobby our politicians to write "regulations"
that will benefit this "new" industry? I'm the
guy who is fed up! |
