A TRUTH BARACK OBAMA WON'T DARE TELL: DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA USE

Lately, Barack Obama has been quoting John F. Kennedy: "The world is
changing. The old ways will not do." For a few hours the other day,
I was starting to think he really meant it.

On Thursday, The Washington Times reported that in 2004, as a
candidate for the U.S. Senate, Obama came out for decriminalizing
marijuana use. That usually means eliminating jail sentences and
arrest records for anyone caught with a small amount for personal
use, treating it more like a traffic offense than a violent crime.
But in a show of hands at a debate last fall, he indicated that he
opposed the idea.

When confronted on the issue by the Times, however, the senator
defended his original ground. His campaign said he has "always"
supported decriminalization.

It's a brave position, and therefore exceedingly rare among
practicing politicians. Which may be why it didn't last. Before the
day was over, the Obama campaign issued a statement saying he thinks
"we are sending far too many first-time non-violent drug users to
prison for very long periods of time" but "does not believe that we
should treat offenses involving marijuana with a simple fine or just
by confiscating the drug." Recently, he had told a New Hampshire
newspaper, "I'm not in favor of decriminalization."

This episode reveals that as a candidate, Obama is more fond of bold
rhetoric than bold policies. But it also proves the impossibility of
talking sense on the subject of illicit drugs during a political
campaign. That course of action would mean admitting the
inadmissible: that the prohibition of cannabis has been cruel,
wasteful and fraudulent.

Cruel because it leads to the arrest of nearly 700,000 people a year
for mere possession of a substance that is comparatively benign.
Wasteful because it expends billions of dollars in police, court and
correctional resources that could be deployed against dangerous
predators. Fraudulent because it hasn't solved anything: According
to the federal government, nearly 100 million Americans have tried the stuff.

But in the political realm, a strangely disjointed view of drugs
prevails. Past use is forgivable. Both George W. Bush and Bill
Clinton admitted to smoking marijuana, as did Al Gore and John
Kerry. Obama has admitted doing the same.

At the same time, no major party presidential nominee has advocated
decriminalization (much less legalization) since Jimmy Carter did so
in 1976. It would be considered political suicide. So we are now in
a bizarre position: A candidate who spent his college days flouting
our marijuana laws can be elected president, but an abstemious,
button-downed candidate who proposes to change those laws has no hope.

Had we enforced our statutes more vigorously, of course, Bush,
Clinton and the others would never have been elected anything,
because they would be ex-convicts. Yet Bush, Clinton and the others
were happy to put people behind bars for crimes they themselves committed.

One alternative to that approach is decriminalization, which is not
exactly radical or untried. It's already the norm in 12 different
states -- not just California and New York, but Mississippi, Ohio
and Nebraska. About one of every three Americans lives in a state or
city where pot users typically don't go to jail.

Despite this lenient approach, Omaha and Cincinnati still would
never be mistaken for Jamaica. One thing we know is that criminal
penalties have little if any effect on the number of stoners. States
that have decriminalized cannabis are largely indistinguishable from
states that have not.

A 1999 report by the National Academy of Sciences found "little
evidence that decriminalization of marijuana use necessarily leads
to a substantial increase in marijuana use." In 2003, Boston
University economist Jeffrey Miron surveyed the available data from
here and abroad and agreed: "Existing evidence provides
no indication that marijuana decriminalization causes increased
marijuana use."

This discovery should not be surprising. Cigarettes and beer are
both legally available, but smoking and drinking have been declining
for years. Freedom is not incompatible with enlightened
self-restraint. In fact, it seems to foster it.

Politicians normally can't say such things. But near the end of his
administration, Bill Clinton confided to Rolling Stone magazine that
he thought marijuana should be decriminalized. Maybe eight years
from now, Obama will do likewise.