NCJ Number
172371
Date Published
1998
Length
3 pages
Annotation
"Pushers" of drug legalization are weakening the "war" on drugs just when the Nation is beginning to take the offensive.
Abstract
There is an effective offensive in the "war" on drugs. In Washington, there is a comprehensive, fully funded national strategy in place that includes the use of armed forces and diplomatic initiatives to fight the drug war. The Colombian government has re-established its authority over the Medellin cartel. Mexico has been pressured to further clamp down on traffickers and marijuana growers. At home, drug-infested neighborhoods in city after city are being liberated by a combination of good people and good policing. Six thousand police officers are in classrooms across the Nation each day teaching millions of kids the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) curriculum. Despite these and other examples of progress to combat drug abuse, the "fifth columnists" argue that if drugs are legalized, crime will automatically decrease. This would happen, they argue, because decriminalization would take the profit out of dealing. The fact is that the kind of crime that citizens fear most was lowest during Prohibition. Dr. Herbert Kleber, the Bush administration official in charge of demand reduction, predicts that legalization might lead to a five- to sixfold increase in cocaine use. Logically, it could also lead to a similar increase in the number of drug-induced murders. Further, legalization would lead to an increase in the number of pregnant drug users whose addiction adversely affects their babies. The future of the Nation depends upon victory in the "war" on drugs.