A TRUTH OBAMA WON'T DARE TELL

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, and
many other officials would never have been elected anything, because
they would be ex-convicts. Yet they are 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 states-not
just California and New York, but places like 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." Harvard 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.