LIKE VIETNAM, DRUG WAR IS FUTILE

Truth is among the casualties of war, observed Samuel Johnson over
200 years ago.

The truth is still taking a beating now in the war on drugs, just as
it did in the government's Vietnam propaganda. Here's a look at the
plentiful similarities between these two police-actions:

None of our business. Which form of government the people choose in a
country 10,000 miles away is just flat not our fight. Likewise, it's
none of the government's business what form of recreation or
self-destruction we choose to engage in.

Unwinnable. Only fools would fight a land war in Asia, especially one
involving guerrilla enemies. Despite the war on drugs and decades of
eradication and enforcement efforts, illicit drugs are still
available and cheap.

Millions of victims. An estimated 3 million Vietnamese people died in
their 30-year civil war. We dropped more bombs on that backward
little land than had been dropped by all sides in World War II and we
still lost. Now at home, America has almost 500,000 prisoners of the
drug war -- not to mention their ruined families; and abroad there's
countless farmers we've terrorized by torching their land in a
scorched-earth rampage that manages to have a negligible effect on
the drug trade.

Treachery by the trenchcoat gang. There's mountains of evidence that
the CIA facilitated the pipeline of drugs through Southeast Asia.
Reportedly, CIA operatives fueled the crack epidemic in America to
fund the contras in Nicaragua, according to former San Jose
Mercury-News reporter Gary Webb's book Dark Alliance.

Gestapo tactics. The revelation about Sen. Bob Kerrey's killing of
women and children in Vietnam is just the tip of a long-hidden
iceberg. American soldiers committed atrocities there. We may never
know all the details. Our very prosecution of the war was an atrocity.

In the drug war, paramilitary cutthroats in Colombia and other
countries receive U.S. government support and supplies. Meanwhile, on
the home front, the rights of innocent families are often savagely
violated and people sometimes are killed in drug raids, including
when police have rammed down the door at the wrong address.

Lack of public support. Despite uncritical news coverage for the
first three years of our major deployment in Vietnam, public
sentiment against Vietnam mushroomed. Folks figured out that we were
wrong to be there.

Similarly, despite decades of drug war baloney -- ranging from the
deranged killers in "Reefer Madness" to the miserably failed DARE
program -- a majority of Americans know we should be trying treatment
over incarceration. In nearly every voter initiative yet (eight
states so far), the people have chosen treatment instead of prison
for drug cases.

Politicians' bullheaded belligerence. When President Nixon inherited
Vietnam from President Johnson in 1969, we'd been bringing home our
boys in body bags for years. Nixon faked peace plans right on through
his re-election in 1972, but it was all a sham.

In the 2000 election, the drug war was a nonissue because both major
political party candidates were committed to continuing this crazy
cruel anti-drug crusade. President Bush revealed his intentions early
by nominating a fanatic as his drug czar. John Walters is so militant
that outgoing Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Walters is "focused too much
on interdiction" and "needs to educate himself on prevention and
treatment."

Although Bush himself admitted to drinking heavily until the age of
40 and is alleged to have had a cocaine habit (read the suppressed
book Fortunate Son by J.H. Hatfield if you can find it), there's no
empathy in his enforcers.

The spin from the Bush administration is aimed at assuring America
that Walters will be fair and balanced. Fairness from someone like
Walters, who favors mandatory minimums (which most judges oppose)
such as New York's 15-years-to-life for nonviolent first-time
offenders?

Our "compassionate conservative" commander in chief also got his way
recently when the Supreme Court ruled that federal law does not allow
a "medical necessity" exception to the prohibition of marijuana
distribution. People with AIDS, cancer and other diseases and who say
the herb makes life more bearable will find no relief from
persecution when they seek relief in a reefer.

The pity is palpable. After our long hard war on drugs, it's high
time to smoke the pipe of peace.