COMMENTARY ON DRUG ABUSE : We’ll Never Win the War by Retreating Toward Legalization : Those who say it’s a losing battle are on the wrong side of the facts. The scourge of society must, and will, be defeated by society itself. Now is certainly no time to surrender.

There has been a lot of attention given lately to the issue of the “war on drugs” and claims that we are losing that war. We do not agree. These claims have come from people who have a limited perspective on what the war on drugs is all about.

The war on drugs is not just a military war, fought with guns. It is being fought by business and community leaders in our schools, in our homes and in the workplace.

It is being fought with the weapons of educational materials and programs, community meetings and even in the press with advertising and the promotion of anti-drug messages.

The war has not yet been won, but we are making progress--progress which would be severely damaged by legalizing drugs.

Maybe those who say we have lost don’t know about the 70% reduction in high school age drug-related deaths in Orange County over the past five years. Maybe they don’t know about the 31% drop in cocaine overdose deaths in Orange County. These facts demonstrate success, and the public needs to know about them.

Over 400 business and community leaders throughout Orange County took a stand in 1992 by donating their time, their energy and their money to fight this war. It is what we have referred to as a “Unique Joint Venture.” None of what the Drug Use Is Life Abuse organization has done has been paid for with public taxes.

Drug Use Is Life Abuse receives close to $1 million in cash and in-kind donations from private citizens every year, including commitments for advertising space worth over $120,000 from Orange County newspapers.

These donations have paid for “weapons” such as 500,000 drug-education booklets for the children in the schools, 20,000 informational brochures for parents on how to prevent substance abuse, and more than 100,000 newsletters created by and for high school students against drugs. This is the real war on drugs.

There are no positive results in legalizing drugs. What is positive about legalizing drugs and increasing their availability and usage? Why would we want to risk the lives of our children that way?

At a time when young people are having to deal with the negative impact of gangs, street violence and the general pressure of growing up in a complex urban society, why introduce one more health-threatening element into their lives? Why say it is OK to take one more risk with their lives?

We are fighting to eliminate drugs that kill people, sometimes with the first try; drugs that create babies who grow up with learning, emotional and physical disabilities.

Substance abuse is responsible for at least half of the 226% increase in child abuse cases over the past 10 years. It has also been attributed to 80% of the domestic violence cases.

Why would we intensify these problems by making drugs more accessible to everyone?

Our vision of America is not one of allowing people to freely walk into a drugstore and buy drugs like cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Our vision is one of a drug-free and healthy America.

Those in Orange County who are calling for a reassessment of the national drug policy must not be aware that reassessment has been going on for a long time and is a continuing process. For example, more than 200 people attended the 1993 National Summit on U.S. Drug Policy held in Washington earlier this month . Less than 10% of the attendees participated in the breakout session about legalizing drugs. This is consistent with national and local surveys which show that 80% of people oppose legalization.

We have participated with thousands of anti-drug coalition leaders from all over the nation in three National Leadership Forums. These are the people who are fighting the war on drugs by trying to eliminate the demand for drugs in their communities.

Last year Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America was created out of the President’s Drug Advisory Council to support the efforts of these coalitions around the country. CADCA has been asked recently to provide input on U.S. drug policy to the National Office of Drug Control Policy (whose top official is commonly referred to as the “drug czar”). We are members of CADCA and will have an opportunity to provide feedback on this.

We pledge to keep fighting until our streets are safe for our children. We can only hope that those people who are advocating legalization will give up that fight and join ours. They need to take a true leadership role in making real change.

Advocating proposals such as legalization of drugs only defeats the efforts of the many fine citizens of Orange County, and our nation, who are trying to end this scourge on our society.