Panel discusses war on drugs at UTA educational forum
by Connie Yu, Reporter

   George McMahon, the seventh legal medical marijuana recipient in the United States, held his can of prescribed marijuana cigarettes and spoke of his lifelong battle with a genetic neurological disease.

   That disease nearly killed him three times.

   McMahon also told about his years of drug abuse ordered by his long list of doctors, and ultimately, the government's attempt to take away the one drug that seems to ease his pain.

   Howard Wooldridge also had a story to tell, not as a drug user, but a drug-buster on the other side.

   McMahon and Wooldridge appeared in the War on Drugs Educational Forum at the University of Texas at Arlington last week to inform the public about the drug war.

   Working for the law enforcement for 15 years, Wooldridge said America's 30-year drug war has failed, leaving police officer's priority on drugs not only impossible to fulfill but compromising their efforts to stop other crimes.

   Other speakers included a former Drug Enforcement Agency agent, ex-Dallas Cowboy player, U.S. drug policy historian and journalistic author.

   "We in the law enforcement have been charged with this insane task, and many have died for it in the line of duty," he said. "[Despite the drug war efforts], drugs are cheaper and more available in Texas than ever before."

   Wooldridge, who belongs to a group of police officers, governmental officials and judges advocating to change the current drug policy, said using drugs, drinking and smoking cigarette are all bad choices, but despite common beliefs, using drugs seems to be the least lethal to the society than the last two.

   "Fifty-six times as many people in the United States die from smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol as are killed by the use of all the illegal drugs combined," according to the Web site of Law Enforcement against Prohibition. "And there are no deaths recorded-that is zero deaths-caused by ingesting marijuana."

   Historian Suzy Wills echoed the two speakers in her speech about the history of the U.S. drug war.

   "The Dutch began selling marijuana for personal use, and 30 years have passed and the results are in," she said.

   "The Dutch now use marijuana at about half the rate that Americans do, and the rate of heroin addiction in the Netherlands is about one-third of the rate here," she said.

   The Swiss started a program to give doses of heroin to addicts at certified medical centers-dropping crimes among the addicts by 60 percent in three years.

   Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ukraine have decriminalized all drug use. The British have also reclassified Cannabis to make possession and use of small amounts a non-arrestable offense, Wills said.

   The U.S. drug prohibition, on the other hand, has handed its right to regulate drugs to the black market, driving up the cost to $40 billion to the taxpayers each year.

   Most importantly, it has attracted more youth in America to use drugs and created the highest drug use rate in the world, Wills said.

   "In the mid 1970s, the average age of a heroin addict in the United States and the Netherlands was about the same, about 26 years old," she said. "Today the average age of a heroin addict in the Unite States is 19 [while] the average age of a heroin addict in the Netherlands has risen to 40."

   Mark Stepnoski, former Dallas Cowboy player and president of the Texas chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said making the "forbidden drugs" a high profile actually helps to market drugs to teenagers who are undergoing their rebellious adolescent years.

   Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), a new student organization at UTA, organized and sponsored the event.

   Bindu Nair, one of the group's presidents, said she and her friends formed the group last semester to educate and inform the public about drug prohibition and its effects on people.

   The group belongs to the national SSDP. Decriminalization in drug possession and revoking The Higher Education Act of 1998 are among the top goals of the group.

   Section 484 of the Act prohibits students with a drug conviction from receiving financial aid for a specified amount of time.

   The national organization is working to lobby congress to introduce a bill that will overturn the drug provision and restore educational opportunity for all students, according to its Web site.

   Stepnoski said the act is unfair because it targets only drug convicts.

   "That means you can rob, rape or kill somebody," he said, "and you can still get an education grant."

   Danielle Bergstrom attended the forum and said the speeches were interesting and crammed with information.

   Bergstrom was impressed by the presentations of Wills and Wooldridge.