Most See War on Drugs as a Failure, Poll Finds

Nearly three-quarters of Americans say that the United States is losing its war on drugs and that the appetite for drugs is so great the problem will never disappear, a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press showed Wednesday.

“The real lesson here . . . is we have to give a lot more attention and connect with the public about what’s possible. You can’t wave a magic wand and make it go away,” said Maureen Steinbruner, president of the Center for National Policy, which publicized the report.

The Washington-based Pew researchers polled 1,500 people in February and found 74% consider the U.S. campaign against drugs a failure. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The poll also found that 68% of those questioned thought Latin America would never crack down on the problem despite U.S. drugs-related aid packages totaling $700 million a year.

More than 40% thought the Bush administration should reduce the amount of U.S. money given to Colombia and other countries fighting drug producers.

U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft made renewing the war on drugs one of his priorities when he took office in February.

With 1 in 5 Americans admitting their families had been affected by drug use, the poll found the public inclined to favor more compassionate treatment of drug offenders.

More than half said drug use should be treated as a disease.

Although still in favor of maintaining traditional tough approaches, such as drug bans and jail terms, the public is more skeptical of them, the poll showed.

Steinbruner of the Center for National Policy agreed that there is a role for interdiction and imprisonment but that other approaches should be examined.

Steinbruner said the government should consider establishing compulsory treatment programs for drug abusers as an alternative to incarceration.

The Pew Research Center is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward public policy issues.