Is it WORTH FIGHTING?
the war on drugs has been raging for more than 20 years.
Stephen Hill is a member of the Koch Crime Commission Drug Task Force, which was formed three years ago by Wichita businessman William Koch to study how Kansans could reduce crime.
Hill studied the problem of illicit drugs to make recommendations to the state government regarding the best way to deal with the problem but stressed that he was not speaking for the task force.
"We need to look at the costs of the war on drugs," Hill said. "We are spending $30 billion a year on it, additional mollions on new prisons and jails, and what are we achieving?"
Hill said that about 75 percent of the budget
"for the war on drugs was being spent on
since 1900 marijuana prices have decreased, and marijuana use has increased.
The social costs include the parole of criminals incarcerated for burglary and rape, Hill said, to make room for people convicted of possessing marijuana. Mandatory sentencing guidelines have been passed in some states.
"I think they should legalize
marijuana," said Mary Tighe, Overland Park freshman. "The laws obviously aren't working."
Jessica Cirone, Lincoln, Neb., freshman said, "You can get marijuana wherever you want it. They should legalize marijuana but not cocaine or heroin. They're much more addictive."
Hill said that most people didn't make the connection between the drug trade and the rise in drive-by shootings.
"It's a $50 billion to $100 billion per year business, and people in the business are forced to be ruthless," Hill said. "What we are seeing now is just like the gangster shootings of Prohibition days."
He also said that another less obvious cost of the war on drugs was the corruption of law enforcement officials on all levels, both in the United States and internationally.
"Their slogan is 'A drug-free America,' but they can't even keep drugs out of Leavenworth, a maximum security federal prison," Hill said.
He said that the source countries for illicit drugs have become unstable because of the effects of drug lords' corruption of the police and government officials.
Some police departments across the country have become dependent on income from the sale of seized property and money from
the federal funds for the war on drugs, Hill said. Police could seize the property of suspected drug dealers, sell it and keep the proceeds for their department without getting a conviction in a drug case.
"I don't see the war on drugs as eradicating drugs during my career," said Sgt. Susan Hadl, of the Lawrence police Department. "We can attack the problem and put people in jail. But are we ahead yet? I don't think so."
Hadi said she was not sure how much money Lawrence's department received from the federal government but felt that the majority of it should be spent on enforcement.
Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said the center didn't see many drug-related problems. However, he attributed that to users being more sophisticated, not necessarily to a drop in usage.
"When I was riding the ambulance back in 1965, we used to see people having bad trips on LSD nearly every night," Yockey said. "Now we mostly have health problems related to alcohol abuse."
Even though medical emergencies related to illicit drugs have become rare, Yockey was adamant in his opposition to the legalization of drugs.
"We shouldn't be in favor of anything that decreases our performance abilities," Yockey said.
Francis Elling is a substance abuse counselor at the Douglas County Citizens Committee on Alcoholism Center (DCCCA), 3312 Clinton Parkway, a counseling center for those with drug dependencies.
His work deals directly with the failures of the war on drugs.
"I'd say that treatment appears to be effective for some," Elling said. "But I don't think that the war on drugs has given much emphasis to treatment."
Elling said that alcohol and tobacco were major drugs, but they were not part of the war on drugs.
Elling said that he and other counselors typically treated people for alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and amphetamine addictions at DCCCA.
About 430,000 people die each year from tobacco-related illnesses, and treatment and health care costs run up to billions of dollars.
Based on his experiences, Eling said that he didn't see any reason for the separation of the legal from the illegal drugs.
"Lots of people are dying from tobacco and alcohol use," Eling said. "They are both highly addictive, but they are not being addressed in the war on drugs."
May 3,1996
Night Topics
Mango Jam with Sherri Jackson,
9 p.m. at The Bottleneck, 737
New Hampshire St. Cost $5-$6.
Tomato Warning Band, 10 p.m.
at Full Moon Cafe, 803 Massachusetts St. Free.
Tonight
Tomorrow
Pamper the Madman with Let's
Rodeo and Tripmaster Monkey,
9 p.m. at The Bottleneck, Cost:
$4-$5.
Son Venezuela, 9 p.m. at The Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St. Cover.
Java Junkies, 10 p.m. at Full Moon Cafe. Free.
Sunday
Inch with No Knife and Chune, 8 p.m. At The Bottleneck. Cost: $4-$5.
The Jesus Lizard with Contortion Horse, 9 p.m. at The Granada. Advance Tickets: $10-$12.
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Monday
Open Mike, 8 p.m. at The Bottleneck. Free.
Dave Hooge, 8 p.m. at Full Moon
Cafe. Free.
Tuesday
Velocity Girl with Fuzzy and Chisel, 9 p.m. at The Bottleneck.
Advance Tickets: $8.
Blueshead Beggars with Huckleberry and Mouths Wide Open, 8 p.m. at The Granada. Cost: $4.
Inter Urban Express, 8 p.m. at Full Moon Cafe. Free.
Lisa Loeb with the Mommyheads, 9 p.m. at The Bottleneck.
Advance Tickets: $8.
Hilltopics
Wednesday
POE with Stillwater, 9 p.m. at The Bottleneck. Advance Tickets: $8.
The Hardy Viking Guruhs, 9 p.m. at Full Moon Cafe. Free.
Thursday
- Chinese inventor Pu Danning recently claimed he had sold $60,000 of the "healthy cigarettes" that he introduced in Beijing in November. The product is a cigarillo-sized tube containing Chinese herbs plus a small battery and microchip and a dozen other components but no tobacco. The cigarette is not lighted; rather, when the "smoker" puffs, a light flashes on the end to imitate a burning ash. Also, the cigarette plays a patriotic song when puffed on, and, said Pu, "The mixture [of herbs] is also good against cancer."
Lead Story
Compelling Explanations
U. S. Rep. David Funderburk, R-N.C., pleaded no contest to a minor traffic charge in Dunn, N.C., in October, despite continuing to deny that he was the one driving when his car crossed the center line and caused an oncoming van to veer off and overturn. Witnesses said Funderburk was driving, but when the
Funderburk car returned to the scene a few minutes later, Funderburk was in the passenger seat, and his wife was driving. (One witness said she actually saw the Funderburks change seats). Furthermore, in a slip-up at a subsequent news conference, Mrs. Funderburk described damage to the car as only on her side — the passenger side — but she quickly corrected herself.
In November, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected the argument of Erwin Davis (who once ran for governor of the state) that he was not the father of a boy born in 1900. A paternity test showed a 99.65 percent chance Davis was the father, but Davis accused the boy's mother of breaking into his house, stealing a used condom and inseminating herself.
Weird Topics
- In February in Madison, Wis., during a routine search of Leonard Hodge, 22, who had been arrested for failure to carry a driver's license, police found cocaine in his underwear. According to
During the summer of 1995, Philip Morris ran newspaper ads promising to crack down on retailers who sold cigarettes to children. In October, a helpful list of such retailers in Minnesota was sent to the company by the state attorney general. Philip Morris declined to act on it. The company still intended to crack down, said vice president Ellen Merlo, but "We didn't say starting today."
a police representative, Hodge attempted to clear himself of the charge by saying the undershorts he wore were not his.
- In February, a government agency in Modesto, Calif., announced it would take action against the Imperial Wizard of the California (Ku Klux) Klan, Bill Albers, for a Feb. 10 cross burning. The agency is the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, which plans a civil lawsuit because the diesel-soaked cross burning violates local air pollution laws.
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