Opinion

Time to be smart on drug war We must end prohibition and treat drug use as a public heath issue.

If you're losing because you're not trying hard enough, that's one thing. If you're losing because your strategy is the equivalent of emptying a constantly replenished saltshaker one grain at a time, it's time to question the strategy.

Make no mistake: decreasing drug use is a worthy goal. We've employed prisons, firepower, billions of dollars and manpower aplenty — mostly for enforcement. To little avail.

Drug violence is threatening Mexico's democracy, subsuming what was an already fragile rule of law and spilling over into neighboring Central American countries. And we have more arrests in the United States on drug charges than any other offense — 1.6 million in 2009 — and $15 billion spent in the drug war in 2010 alone.

In Texas, inmates in state custody with drug offenses as the charge of record account for nearly 18 percent of all prisoners. Now, compare that to the number of imprisoned murderers (10.4 percent), violent robbers (14.7 percent) and burglars (9.8 percent).

Trying hard has not been our problem. Fighting smart has been.

A report credibly calling into question U.S. strategy in this drug war bubbled briefly to the surface recently. There was an even briefer official response, which amounted to a recitation of successes reminiscent of the body-count claims touted as measures of success in Vietnam.

We didn't win that war either. And back then civilian and military hawks prolonged U.S. involvement and failed strategy with impassioned arguments for staying the course.

That report critical of the drug war came from the Global Commission on Drug Policy, a body whose members include former presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and George Schultz and Paul Volker. It suggests decriminalizing drugs and treating drugs as a public health issue.

Drug cartels exist because prohibition makes the trade highly profitable, just as in the days of Al Capone. Suppliers can buy off many of those charged with battling them and come close to outgunning those who remain. They can pay off people on both sides of the border to look the other way. And because demand spawns such high profits, there is an endless supply of eager replacements whenever any player gets knocked out of the game by law enforcement or by each other in their incessant turf wars.

Take away the drug cartels' profits by more effective means. Substance abuse prevention and treatment is both cheaper and more effective than enforcement. And, yes, legalization or decriminalization should also be on the table.

Reps. Ron Paul, Republican of Texas, and Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, teamed up on a bill that would remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances. It appears that San Antonio's own U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith is intent on blocking it. And he can. He is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

“Instead of encouraging the use of marijuana, we should strengthen enforcement of federal drug laws to protect Americans from the devastating effects of drug use,” he said recently.

Right. Let's empty that constantly replenished saltshaker two grains at a time instead of one.

Hint: The United States is at war in Afghanistan and that country is still a world leader in opium poppy production.

o.ricardo.pimentel@express-news.net