THIS IS THE REAL WAR THAT FAILED

Anyone who has seen the 1936 anti-drug movie "Tell Your Children,"
more commonly known as "Reefer Madness," knows the ridiculous levels
the powers that be will go to in their attempts to keep Americans
from using a product that harms no one but themselves. The movie
follows the destructive paths of several young people who become
"addicted" to marijuana through wild parties thrown by pushers.

One scene has a young man, reefer tucked into to corner of his mouth,
wildly pounding out jazz tunes. The more he puffs, the wilder the
music gets and the crazier the look in his eyes. It's actually quite comical.

Looking back on the movie with the knowledge we have today of the
effects of marijuana, "Tell Your Children" is more of a joke than a
cautionary tale about the dangers of drug use. We have a feeling
later generations will think the same thing about some of the ways
governments attempt to fight the drug war today.

A cold sufferer can't stop by the corner drug store and pick up the
most effective decongestant without jumping through hoops. One of the
most popular brands contains a key ingredient in cooking
methamphetamine and the feds have restricted the amount a person can
buy at one time, so stores keep it behind the pharmacy counter and
make people ask for it. In place for a few years now, the
restrictions haven't lowered the amount of meth on the streets. Most
of the drug in the U.S. comes from large factories in Mexico. One
possible benefit, though, could be a reduction in the number of toxic
meth labs in our neighborhoods. But as an effective tool in reducing
U.S. drug use, it has been a failure.

Another government attempt to cut down on drug use has been laws that
ban the sale of "drug paraphernalia," objects whose main or only
purpose is to help get drugs, often marijuana, into one's body.
Decades ago, even small cities had several stores that sold marijuana
pipes, bongs, roach clips and other "drug paraphernalia." After the
bans went into effect, pot use in the United States dropped to almost
zero as stoners had to give up their drug of choice because there was
no way to smoke it.

What's that? Pot smoking didn't go away? Say it ain't so, Joe.

Of course it didn't. Users simply found other common objects that
could be used as delivery systems or bought what they needed on the
black market, where a thriving business keeps pot smokers well
supplied with what they need. Spring clips for holding marijuana
cigarettes are readily available at businesses all over this country.
They're called hardware stores and there's probably one in your neighborhood.

Banning things doesn't keep them from people who want them. But
governments never seem to learn this lesson.

A Chicago city council member, lauding a proposed ban on small,
self-sealing plastic bags as a way to inhibit drug sales, said the
proposal was a desperate measure to address what he called "the most
destructive force" in Chicago's neighborhoods. He almost has it
right. But "the most destructive force" in his city and others isn't
drugs; it's the drug war that drives up the price of drugs and makes
dealing them so attractive to criminal elements. The drug war isn't
working. It's time for officials to stop worrying about being tagged
with the soft-on-crime label and take courageous steps to re-evaluate
a failed policy.