Answer of Arnold S. Trebach (*) to J.A. Califano Jr.

The International Herald Tribune, October 31, 1996

DRUG POLICIES

(Letters to the editor)

Regarding "No, Legalizing Drugs Would Harm Young People in Europe" (Opinion, Oct. 18) by Joseph A. Califano Jr.:

If Mr. Califano feels the Dutch and Swiss drug policies are so disastrous, we must ask what kind of model he prefers. Is it the repressive policies of his own govemment? If the U.S. model is preferred, then it is a preference for a policy with the following results:

- America has the highest in-carceration rate of any Western nation.

- One in three black males be-tween 20 and 29 is under a form of criminal justice supervision.

- More than 10 times as many drug offenders were behind bars in 1994 as in 1980.

- The imprisonment rate for drug offenders was 16 times that of the Netherlands as of 1989.

Despite this attempt to incarcerate its drug problems away, the United States has had increasing drug use among teenagers for the last three to four years.

I have observed the Swiss and Dutch experiments in drug control and find them vastly superior to the U.S. model in improving public health, reducing crime and preserving civil liberties.

If the countries of the European Union want to throw thousands more citizens in prison and bankrupt themselves in the process, then they should consider adopting the drug policies of the United States.

(*) the writer is president of the Drug Policy Foundation