The United States has been using the "carrot and the stick approach" to solving the drug problem in Latin America, a Penn State associate professor said.

"First we hit them with the stick," said Bruce Bullington, associate professor of criminal justice. "We threaten them, but they don't cooperate with these kinds of programs, and then we offer the carrot of economic aid once they start cooperating with us."

In "U.S. Drug Policy and Organized Crime," a seminar sponsored by the Latin American Association, Bullington and Alan Block criticized U.S. drug policy at home and abroad.

Until recently, U.S. drug policy has been largely supply-side oriented.

"They're trying to, in some way, impact on the supply side of the raw materials in the drug business -- either before they enter this country or as they enter the country and before they can enter the market at the street level," he said.

Supply-side intervention has used different approaches: crop substitution and eradication, property seizure and asset forfeiture, extradition, education, interdiction, military support and economic pressure.

Bullington showed why these efforts have failed.

"The United States has had this notion that somehow if we can just capture these cocaine lords and have these countries ship them up to us . . . we will just show them," he said.

Efforts to stop the flow of drugs into the country have failed, he said. If interdiction is working, drug prices will rise. But the price of drugs like cocaine has dropped dramatically, from $60,000 per kilogram ten years ago to about $10,000 per kilogram this year.

"All of this money for interdiction, all of this effort -- they even have the military involved now -- has led to what? It's led to the same kinds of percentages, it's led to most of these drugs coming through and the price has fallen. More drugs are actually getting through," he said.

Block, professor of administration of justice, also criticized interdiction efforts.

The Coast Guard stereotypes drug carriers as "Hispanics with nice boats, rings, and a pretty woman in a bikini." But drugs are actually often brought in by "Mom and Pop"-type people, he said.

Block advocated the legalization of drugs.

"You must destroy the criminal market and the only way to destroy the criminal market is to legalize," he said.

The government should stop mandatory drug testing, even for transportation workers.

"The way to insure my safety is not to violate their rights," he said.

"There is no way this drug war is being won. Your freedoms and mine are being eroded away every day," Bullington said. "I'm frightened about it, but that's me."

The drug war has effected the way everyone approaches criminal justice -- even dogs.

"We have an entire generation of pooches who cannot spot a burglar but who can certainly find a joint of marijuana," he joked.

Military intervention in the drug war is wrong, Bullington said.

"Many U.S. citizens approve of the use of the military in this way and would love to see our marines and all our other guys and gals go down to these countries and really waste them, because we could do it like no one else could," he said.

The aid the United States gives to Latin American countries is not used effectively, he added.

Eighty percent of the aid goes to military and law enforcement, while only 20 percent goes to economic development, he said.

The drug policy in the United States has also failed.

Prison populations have doubled in the last decades and prisoners are serving longer terms. The prison system denigrates the prisoners instead of rehabilitating them, he added.

Drug testing policy is an invasion of privacy and a violation of the Bill of Rights, Bullington said.

"Where else in the free world do people have to go into a closet with (someone) who's going to watch me very carefully as I pour a bodily waste into a cup in order to have a job?" he asked.

Block spoke of a "phony urine market."

"It may not be the urine you think it is or coming from the person you think it is," he said.

The education system's answer to the drug problem -- the "Just Say No" program -- lies about drugs and does not answer any real questions. He advocated presenting honest information and recognizing the other side of issues.