DRUG WAR GONE BAD

Drug War Is A Failure, Gives Citizens More Credit And Give Up On A Lost Cause

New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is not a typical politician. He has the
courage to speak honestly on a subject considered sacred by the
governing establishment: America's war on drugs. The Republican has
publicly acknowledged his past use of marijuana and cocaine. Johnson
believes the drug war is an abysmal and expensive failure. In an
interview with MSNBC, he said, "We're spending more and we're locking
more people up. Personally, I have a problem with putting people in
jail for drug use."

According to the Justice Department, a record 1.86 million men and
women were behind bars and another 4.5 million were on parole or
probation for drug offenses in 1999. The government spends
approximately $50 billion a year on the effort to combat illegal
drugs. It appears to be losing. The Washington Post reports 1 percent
of the adult population in America was in prison in 1980. Now that
number has risen to 3 percent, or one in every 32 people.

The failed effort to stem the tide of illegal drugs in the United
States has only created more criminals. The time has come to admit
the drug war is not only a failure, it is not winnable. Instead of
pursuing a lost cause, other options merit serious consideration,
including legalizing drugs and viewing drug use as a health, and not
a criminal, problem.

Narcotics will always be around. The illegal drug trade is estimated
to be $400 billion a year -- larger than the automobile industry.
Some of the billions of dollars spent fighting the drug war could be
redirected into combating the traffic violations, murders, burglaries
and rapes that are often rooted in drug abuse. Under the legalization
scenario, addiction would be treated as a health problem, not a
crime. Criminal activity of someone under the influence of a
substance would be severely prosecuted, similar to drunken driving.

Legality must not imply approval. Money freed for drug education
should focus on the fact that doing drugs has serious consequences.
Officials lose credibility when they tell children they will fry
their brains. In fact, drugs have a very real and powerful lure.
Marijuana and more dangerous substances can make people feel better,
less lonely and more in control of their lives. But children might
appreciate and positively respond to the truth that long-term abuse
is a major handicap.

Through legalization and an honest educational campaign, the
government could control, regulate and tax drug use. The issue
certainly merits further study. America's narcotics policy raises
serious constitutional questions. Yale law professor Steven Duke
said, "The anti-constitutional effects of the drug war have been so
relentlessly obvious for so long that a cynic might wonder whether
the Constitution is not the true enemy of the drug warriors." In a
free society, purchasing and intaking substances harming only the
individual should not be a criminal act. The actions resulting from
these poor decisions should be the focus of law enforcement.

Joseph McNamara, former police chief in San Jose, Calif., believes
that America's war on drugs is a pointless endeavor. He said, "There
is no way the police can penetrate this world unless everyone becomes
a suspect, everyone gets stopped, everyone gets searched." Under no
circumstances should citizen privacy ever be compromised in this way.

America's current drug policies are simply not working. For many,
obtaining illegal drugs is easier than obtaining legal ones. There
are real casualties in the drug war, including nonviolent criminals
facing jail time for only harming their own bodies. Most of the
nation's citizens are intelligent, rational people who understand the
problems of drug abuse. They deserve better than the rhetoric of
politicians promising to pour more money into a losing battle.

The well-documented failure of the drug war should raise questions
about continuing these policies that have so little progress to show.
Through legalization, the government just might be able to control
the drug market in a way that works. Instead of arguing how much more
money should be poured into this battle, it would be smart to begin
debating of the alternatives.