NO, LEGALIZING DRUGS WOULD HARM YOUNG PEOPLE IN EUROPE

by Joseph A. Califano Jr. (*)

The International Herald Tribune, October 18, 1996

Emma Bonino, the European commissioner for consumer policy, wants legalization of "soft drugs" throughout the European Union. Her argument, reported in this newspaper on Oct. 10, perpetuates old myths and ignores uncomfortable realities. Legalization would be a disaster for european children and teenagers.

Myth No. 1: The Netherlands has a successful drug legalization policy.

The Dutch have not technically legalized drugs, but they permit marijuana coffeeshops to sell cannabis products for personal consumption. For This policy has harmed youngsters. From 1984 to 1992, marijuana use by Dutch adolescents jumped nearly 200 percent. Dutch officials and citizens have expressed alarm about rising use of marijuana among minors and increasing crime and drug tourism. As a result, Parliament has moved to cut in half the number of marijuana coffeehouses,raise the minimum-age requirement for purchasing cannabis from 16 to 18, and reduce the amount of marijuana that an individual can buy from 30 grams to 5 grams.

Myth No. 2: Legalization would decrease drug-related crime in Europe.

Not so. Any short-term reduction in arrests after a repeal of criminal drug laws would quickly evaporate as drug use increased and the criminal conduct - assault, murder, rape, child molestation, violence, vandalism - that drug use spawns exploded.

The U.S. Department of Justice has found that criminals commit six times as many homicides, four times as many assaults and almost one and a half times as many robberies under the influence of drugs as they commit in order to get money to buy drugs. European health, welfare and criminal justice costs would rocket if drugs were legalized. Mrs. Bonino's argument that adoption of the Dutch policies by the European Union would reduce crime is contradicted by the Netherlands' own experience. The Justice Ministry acknowledges a steady increase in drug-related crime during the past decade. From 1981 to 1992 there was a 60 percent increase in crime, most of it property. Despite strict gun control laws, gun-related deaths increased from 73 in 1991 to more than 100 in 1992, virtually all of them drug-related. By 1994, Amsterdam had twice as many police officers relative to its population as the average American city.

Myth No. 3: Legalization would help to eliminate black markets and contain organized criminal activity.

Here again, Dutch experience suggests just the opposite. From 1988 to 1993, the number of organized crime groups in the Netherlands jumped from three to 93.

Myth No. 4: Greater availability and legal acceptability of drugs like marijuana, cocaine and heroin would not in-crease use.

This defies not only experience but human nature. From 1984 to 1992, Dutch adolescent marijuana use nearly tripled. Italy, where personal possession of small quantities of drugs, including heroin, was de-criminalized in 1975, has some 300,000 heroin addicts and the highest rate of heroin addiction in Europe.In the 1970s, the United states de facto decriminalized marijuana. A commission appointed by President Richard Nixon recommended decriminalization, as did President Jimmy Carter. The result? A soaring increase in use of marijuana, particularly among youngsters.

Myth No. 5: Legalization would reduce health problems and limit the spread of diseases like AIDS.

No way. Beginning in 1987, Switzerland experimented with just such a policy, and the effects were disastrous. The Swiss government designated a public park in Zurich where heroin addicts could use drugs. Public health officials distributed free needles, condoms, medical care, counselling and offers of treatment in what soon became known as Needle Park. By 1992, the number of addicts bad rocketed to 20,000. The city's chief medical officer reported that doctors were resuscitating an average of 12 people a day who had overdosed, up to 40 on some days; in 1991, 81 drug-related deaths were recorded, twice as many as the previous year. The Swiss closed down the park. Mrs. Bonino's claim that legalizing drugs would limit the incidence of AIDS is contrary to her own country's experience. In Italy, with personal possession of small quantities of drugs decriminalized, 70 percent of AIDS cases are attributable to drug use.

Myth No. 6: Legalization would be only for adults; legalized drugs would not be made available to children.

In the Netherlands, more teenagers are using drugs at an earlier age. A 1993 survey by the Dutch National Institute for Alcohol and Drugs reported that drug use among male students aged 12 to 18 had increased by more than 250 percent since 1984. Nothing in the experience of any free nation gives any credence to its ability to keep legal drugs out of the hands of children. in the United States, it is illegal for children to purchase cigarettes, beer and alcohol, yet today 4.5 million adolescents smoke and 4.7 million underage Americans drink. History and research demonstrate that legalization would increase the number of drug users and drug-related crimes - and have a savage impact on the physical, intellectual and emotional development of European children.

(*) The writer, President of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, at Columbia University in New York, was U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare from 1977 to 1979. He contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.