HIGH ON DEMOCRACY

What does it mean when a former top-level conservative politician comes out
in favor of legalizing marijuana - and then is promptly trumped by the head
of the prison system, who says all drugs should be legal?

Well, it means you've woken up in Britain, for one thing. That's where
one-time Conservative Party Deputy Leader Peter Lilley publicly described
laws against marijuana as "unenforceable and indefensible." He wants
licensed outlets to be able to sell the popular herb to users over the age
of 18. Rather than exiling himself to the political wilderness with his
comments, Mr. Lilley sparked a discussion in which other members of his own
party, as well as senior members of the ruling Labor Party, allowed that it
was time to debate changes to the law.

Just days later, Sir David Ramsbotham, the chief inspector of prisons in
England and Wales, called for all drugs to be legalized "so people do not
have to go and find an illegal way of doing it."

That's mighty surprising talk for people accustomed to the unwavering
prohibitionist line at the higher levels of American politics, but it's not
so strange overseas.

Europeans have never been quite so fanatical as Americans on the drug
issue, and they are more readily admitting the inability of police to force
people to stop taking substances that make them feel good. After decades of
harsh laws, full prisons and plenty of public finger- wagging, drugs remain
as available - and profitable - in the Old World as ever. Rather than
continue with more of the same, many politicians and much of the public are
ready to try something new. As a result, drug laws have been loosening up
all over Europe.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws summarized
recent reforms in a 1999 study, saying: "A major part of the European model
of drug policy is to treat drug use not as a criminal activity that must be
stamped out completely, but rather a part of human nature that should best
be handled in a manner that minimizes adverse effects to both the
individual and society as a whole."

An example of the differences between United States and Europe can be found
in Switzerland. That country's somewhat stodgy image has long been belied
by a surprisingly tolerant attitude toward marijuana. While the plant can't
be sold for intoxicating purposes, it's widely marketed as potpourri,
though nobody seems to be fooled. What purchasers do with the stuff once
they get home is their own business.

Now authorities in the mountainous republic are considering legalizing the
open production and sale of the stuff without the nudge and wink factor.
Even if they don't go that far, members of the ruling coalition have voiced
support for a Dutch-style solution, under which prohibition laws remain on
the books without being enforced.

For their part, the Portuguese have joined Spain and Italy in looking
beyond the relatively easy debate over marijuana and tackling the thornier
controversy over disfavored intoxicants in general. Portugal recently
decriminalized the use of all recreational drugs, including cocaine and
heroin. Users no longer face imprisonment if caught with small amounts.

That's not to say Portugal has taken the full step to legalization.
Instead, Portugal has adopted the trappings of the therapeutic state.
According to the BBC, marijuana smokers must "meet a commission of
psychologists and social workers, who try to convince them to change their
ways."

Users of harder drugs are obliged to seek treatment for a vice that is now
officially considered an ailment. Still, a dose of psychobabble is a
definite improvement over Lisbon's version of the pokey.

Even Canada, so like the United States in many ways, has made major
advances toward reining in the excesses of the drug war. Prime Minister
Jean Chretien recently felt obliged to announce that he wouldn't consider
legalizing marijuana for recreational use. This came after members of all
five parliamentary parties agreed to convene a special committee to examine
the country's drug laws, and as a legislator from the conservative Canadian
Alliance proposed replacing criminal penalties for marijuana possession
with fines.

As it is, Canada has legalized marijuana for medical use and commissioned a
private company to grow an official crop. Legalization advocates committed
to civil disobedience have been pushed to the point of promising to sell a
better quality product than that available from the authorities.

As if to emphasize the United States' growing isolation on the drug issue,
President Vicente Fox of Mexico, a Bush buddy and fellow conservative, has
added his voice to the international chorus suggesting that drugs can best
be dealt with in an open market.

Of course, proposing an end to prohibitionistic drug laws isn't completely
taboo in the United States. Libertarians, liberals and some conservatives
have made waves by suggesting just that. A few maverick politicians, such
as Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico and Gov. Jesse Ventura of Minnesota,
have survived the fallout from their pro- legalization ideas.

In terms of real policy, medical marijuana laws have been passed by popular
referendum in many U.S. states (though they have mostly been blocked by
federal authorities). And Portugal's drug decriminalization largely
resembles a policy adopted last year by California.

So the continuing hard-line rhetoric from drug policy-makers in Washington
sounds almost anachronistic, like the last stand of true- believing foes of
alcohol in the early 1930s.

Whatever the pleasures and dangers to be found in using many intoxicating
drugs, U.S. officials stand increasingly isolated in their insistence that
the force of the law can prevent people from making their own decisions on
the matter.