By Joe Dombroski

The myth of the drug-legalization argument is that government distribution/regulation of drugs would remove the profit, and therefore the incentive, for illicit drug-dealing and drug-related crime. But the reality of drug legalization can be witnessed by any American tourist on the streets of a working-class neighborhood in southern Amsterdam. In that typical Netherlands neighborhood, residents weave on and off crowded sidewalks, trying to avoid making eye contact with dealers who openly push heroin, marijuana, and crack.

In news reports and interviews, hard-working area residents blame the legalization of drugs for bringing more drug dealers, more petty criminals, and more drug use to their neighborhood.

Twenty-five years ago police departments in the United States regarded drug use as a victimless crime affecting only the user. Vice enforcement treated drug crimes in the same manner as prostitution and gambling. Today law-enforcement officials understand that drug use and drug distribution are crimes with an untold number of victims. Society, as well as the drug user, suffers both physically and economically. The U.S. system of uniform crime reporting reveals that between 75 percent and 80 percent of all crime is drug-related or has a drug nexus.

Drug-Related Crimes

Legalization and government distribution/regulation do not stop the profits for illegal drug dealers. If we examine the basic economics of drug trafficking, we can understand what the people of Amsterdam are living with.

In a typical drug-producing country a kilogram (1,000 grams) of heroin sells for about $1,000. That same kilogram is then sold to wholesale dealers in the United States for between $85,000 and $100,000. In Richmond a street dose (1/8 gram or an “egg”) of heroin sells for $25. Thus a street dealer in Richmond can make $200,000 per kilogram. Once the dealer pays his cost of $85,000 to $100,000, he will realize a profit of 100 percent or more per kilogram.

The government of a country with legalized drugs has to sell heroin for no less than $20 per street dose, to cover the pharmaceutical manufacturer’s production costs. The government has to deliver a consistently safe strength per dose, and therefore it cannot purchase drugs as an illegal drug trafficker can. Meanwhile, the drug dealer who purchases his drugs from illicit sources that operate with no quality controls or safety standards can cut his price to $15 per street dose, underselling the government and realizing a smaller profit. He still makes money and the addicts purchase cheaper, and, in many instances, more potent heroin from the street dealers.

The attitude implicit in a culture of drug use and acceptance in the Netherlands has played an important role in its becoming the world’s top supplier of Ecstasy. Legalization has produced a drug-addicted population that has crippled the economy. In the summer of 2002, the legislature of the Netherlands reversed two decades of legalized drugs by passing laws to recriminalize drug distribution and use in order to protect its citizenry.

Current Approaches Work

The current approach in our country of tough drug laws, coupled with effective education programs and compassionate treatment, is producing success. It is a myth that there has been no progress in our anti-drug efforts. Overall drug use in the U.S. has dropped by more than one-third since the late 1970s. That means 9.5 million fewer people are using illegal drugs. During the past 15 years cocaine use has plummeted by an astounding 70 percent.

There is still more to do. Drugs remain readily available, and a recent household survey on drug abuse revealed that an increasing number of American children are experimenting with designer drugs such as Ecstasy. As long as we have despair, poverty, frustration, and teenage rebellion, we’re going to have problems with drugs. We must remember that our methods are achieving success. Less than 5 percent of the population - or 16 million people - regularly uses illegal drugs.

Emerging drug threats such as Ecstasy and methamphetamine will require even more resolve and innovation. We need a renewed dedication by all Americans to help our children stay away from the misery and addiction of drugs.

Innovative approaches to address the problem include drug courts, community coalitions such as the Richmond Drug Free Alliance, more investment in education, more effective treatment, drug-testing in the workplace, and drug counselors in schools. These ideas work. What doesn’t work is legalization.

Alaska Tried Legalization

It’s a well-kept secret that legalization has been tried before in this country. In 1975, Alaska’s Supreme Court held that under its state constitution an adult could possess marijuana for personal consumption in the home. However, in a 1988 study, the University of Alaska found that the state’s teens used marijuana at more than twice the national average for their age group. In 1990, Alaska’s residents, fed up with the dangerous experiment of legalization, voted to recriminalize possession of marijuana.

Legalization was not the answer for the Netherlands or for Alaska - nor is it for the rest of America. Legalizing drugs is simply surrendering. It’s giving up on the hope that future generations will be drug-free and abandoning those people in the grip of addiction. Isn’t every life worth fighting for?

Joe Dombroski, a Richmond-area enforcement supervisor for the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration, is a 2003 Commentary Columnist.

Copyright: 2003 Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact: letters@timesdispatch.com

Source: Northwest Center for Health & Safety