‘We Can’t Win a Drug War’

So what if drugs now pose a crisis of epidemic proportions. We have waged war on drugs before and lost. Let’s concede defeat and focus our resources on matters over which we have some control. That appears to be the thesis espoused by Prof. Stephen J. Morse of USC in his article (Editorial Pages, Aug. 14), “We Can’t Win a Drug War.” I am not prepared to so readily throw in the towel--and I suspect neither is the vast majority of the public.

Morse characterizes the current crisis as merely an extension of a national scourge that always has been with us and always will. History does suggest that drug abuse afflicts this country in cycles. But history also indicates that when society takes tangible and forceful steps to address the crisis, society achieves its intended goal. But even if history was not on our side, I would refuse to conclude that past failures preclude future successes.

Morse asserts that criminal laws and enforcement will not cut the supply of, and demand for, drugs. On the supply side of the equation, he argues that we cannot prevent domestic manufacture and distribution of drugs because the profit potential outweighs the risk. But if this is true, why can’t we increase the risk to outweigh the potential profit? Mayor Tom Bradley has proposed mandatory prison sentences for anyone in California convicted of possessing for sale or selling 5 grams of cocaine or a substance containing 5 grams of cocaine. Mayor Bradley also has called for passage of legislation that would make it a crime in California to knowingly launder drug money. If we make the risk of being caught big enough, the profit potential will no longer seem so great.

Continuing with the supply side, Morse and I also seem to have a fundamental difference of opinion regarding human nature. To him, reducing the supply side is unrealistic because corruption of law enforcement itself is “inevitable.” I have more faith in the integrity of our law enforcement personnel than does Morse. Perhaps this difference of opinion also accounts for why I, unlike Morse, believe that effective law enforcement in the drug arena need not be incompatible with the protection of our cherished constitutional rights.

Turning to the demand side of the equation, it is true that many people use drugs because they produce pleasure. But instead of seeing this as an insurmountable impediment, I view it as proof that drug education can go a long way toward reducing demand for drugs. By teaching our youth that the pleasure is only temporary, that it soon turns to despair and leads to a myriad of unanticipated problems, we can ensure that many adolescents will never seek that first false and fleeting high. That is why Mayor Bradley has proposed requiring mandatory drug education in public schools beginning at the kindergarten level.

TOM K. HOUSTON

Deputy Mayor

Los Angeles