The 'War on Drugs' is an expensive losing fight

I had the following letter published in The Macon Telegraph (www.macon.com) on December 1:

Billy Boney may very well be a good man, a loyal servant, an honorable citizen and an effective law enforcement officer. Unfortunately, he is not a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Twelve-steppers say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. That is exactly what most law enforcement officers do and have done for decades now, while wasting billions of tax dollars that could be used to fight violent crime, help people with addictions or secure our borders. Instead, insanity prevails and valuable dollars are thrown away trying to fight a fight that cannot be won.

Perhaps that is a large reason it is fought. Those entrusted with protecting citizens don't want to be told they "can't" do something. When the money spent does not come out of their pockets directly, it is easy to buck up and push harder against the failure we call the "war on drugs." It is a war based on stupidity. Prohibition does not work. The 1920s proved that with alcohol prohibition. It didn't work and it was ended. Alcohol has become a regulated and taxable product that millions of Americans enjoy responsibly.

LEAP is a growing organization of people from the law enforcement and criminal justice communities speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. Its Web site says, "Those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs."

Considering that in 1914, just before the Harrison Narcotic Act was passed, the government said 1.3 percent of the U.S. was addicted to drugs. In 1970, the government said the addiction rate was still only 1.3 percent. in 1996 the government said 1.3 percent of the population was addicted to drugs. It seems this fight is ridiculously wasteful.

I wish Deputy Boney, the law enforcement departments of Twiggs, Baldwin and Bibb counties and the taxpayers of these counties would visit http://www.LEAP.cc/ to learn a little about what we could effectively do to HELP citizens with drug addictions.

Our law enforcement and criminal justice men and women should be thanked and honored for their service to the citizens, but when something is wrong with a process or program, it should be fixed. If it is not fixed and it continues to burn through billions of dollars, those who participate should be chastised and held accountable. I urge everyone to visit LEAP's Web site and possibly change their paradigm on how to help addicts.

(A couple of small changes, like punctuation and adding a couple more words, were made to the above letter for this post.)

I just attended the funeral of my 24 year old cousin yesterday 11/30/06. He was an addict to alcohol and drugs and after years of dealing with depression, decided to take his own life as a means to stop whatever pain he was always battling. I've thought about this topic for many years and as a triathlete, marathoner and non-eater of partially hydrongenated oils (translation: healthy diet), I truely believe this "war on drugs" is doing more harm than good. I don't condone the use of drugs. I believe to abuse drugs is stupid, self-centered and unhealthy. I do believe in personal freedom though and believe we should all have the right to put in our bodies what we choose.

That being said...there is still a better way to solve the abuse of drugs than prohibiltion. That better way is explained at Law Enforcement Against Prohibition's website, www.LEAP.cc. Please read and listen to the information with the idea that our goal is to stop drug abuse and help heal those that are addicted.