DRUG WAR OPINION SUBJECT TO DEBATE

If successful, a good public debate will determine which side's opinion is
based more on fact and which side's opinion springs more from emotion, or
misinformation or fear.

Debates are an ideal forum when people at one end of an issue believe their
opinion to be more valid than those at the other end, and welcome the
opportunity to explain why. I've been thinking a great deal about public
debate since accepting a challenge to engage in one regarding the drug war.

The challenger, you may recall from previous editions, seemed quite eager
to explain his opinion when he sent the gauntlet-tossing letter. But when I
responded, he said he could not officially accept my acceptance until he
cleared it with his bosses. Last I heard, that request had gone to
Washington for upper-level boss consideration.

So, while waiting to find out if he manages to get his horse moved around
to the front of the cart, I've been thinking a great deal about who would
be good to have on a debate team. Who could be most convincing when
explaining the facts behind the opinion.

Experts Abound

It is a difficult task because so many people have e-mailed
from all across This Great Land to volunteer or suggest others. Locally,
one helpful fellow provided an exhibit with his recommendation of a veteran
judge in California. It is a recent issue of VERDICT, official publication
of the National Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals, with the lead
article by James P. Gray.

"Our Drug Laws Have Failed" is the title of the piece, which actually is an
excerpt from Gray's soon-to-be-published book, Why Our Drug Laws Have
Failed and What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs.

Gray's drug war opinions are based upon his background as a criminal
defense attorney for Navy JAG, a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and a
trial judge in Orange County for more than 16 years.

"In my view, we simply could not design a worse system than the one we have
now," he wrote.

Gray heaps blame squarely upon our national drug policy for huge increases
in crime, violence, corruption and taxes in recent years -- with
corresponding decreases in public health and civil liberties. But he also
says that since the prison-industrial complex has grown so large and
mighty, elected officials would risk political ruination if they spoke
against the drug war.

"Consequently," he wrote, "it is up to us as citizens, taxpayers and voters
to call a halt to these failed policies. That can be accomplished simply by
showing people that it is all right to discuss the subject, and that just
because we question our nation's drug policy, or just because we realize
that we have viable options to it, or just because we might even employ
some of those options, does not mean that we condone drug use or abuse."

Another man recommended in several e-mails as a qualified debater tells a
funny story about how some people react to this idea about open discussion
of drug war options.

Huge Collection of Reports

Cliff Schaffer, who has spent years amassing a
huge collection of scientific and government reports, studies, articles and
books relating to the drug policy, appeared on a recent History Channel
special. He said his mom told her employer that he was going to be on TV
and asked the boss to watch.

"The woman reported back to my mother that she had started to watch the
show," Schaffer said, "but, early on, someone had mentioned the names of
some illegal drugs and she didn't want to hear anything about that.
Therefore, she turned off the TV and taped the show. Then, later on, she
played back the tape, being careful to turn the sound off first so she
wouldn't hear any of the offensive words. To avoid offensive images, she
fast forwarded the tape until she got to the parts where I was speaking,
and let the tape play without sound. She doesn't read lips, so there is no
chance that she understood anything I said."

But she was able to report to Cliff's mom that she had seen him on TV.

People who are interested in learning more about the drug policy can access
Schaffer's library at www.druglibrary.org on the Internet. And just maybe,
if that challenger ever gets back to me, we can schedule a public debate.