THE DRUG WAR PROBLEM

WITH THE WITHDRAWAL of Linda Chavez, John Ashcroft becomes the
obvious lightning rod for critics of President-elect George W. Bush.
In their view, the former senator is too pro-life, too anti-gun
control and too critical of activist judges to be attorney general.

Leave it to the left to get it wrong. Ashcroft is right on all of
these issues. Where he is wrong is drug policy. Alas, his liberal
assailants are often no better.

Two decades into an increasingly draconian war on drugs failure
surround us. There is actor Robert Downey Jr., now facing another set
of drug charges. There is Cameron Reagan, grandson of President
Ronald Reagan, who was recently caught with marijuana and ordered
into a drug management program.

Drug use by these and many others often has tragic consequences. But,
jailing users creates even more disastrous results.

Indeed, President Clinton now says minor pot smokers shouldn't go to
jail. And his drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, opines that most nonviolent
addicts don't belong in prison.

But, President Clinton and company spent eight years jailing drug
users. His administration did nothing to change federal drug policy.

To the contrary, the Clinton crowd presided over the arrest and
imprisonment of millions of Americans, managed a steady assault on
the civil liberties of all citizens, innocent as well as guilty, and
fought every reform attempt, such as state medical marijuana
initiatives. The president and his minions give hypocrisy a bad name.

It should be obvious to all that the drug war is a failure.
Consumption has long varied irrespective of enforcement practices.
More than 80 million people have tried drugs, 15 million of them last
year.

Most, like the outgoing and incoming presidents, are casual consumers
who can and do quit. Three-quarters of current drug users are
employed, filling corporate boardrooms and legislative chambers.

The threat of prosecution may discourage some occasional use, but
that's not the problem. The drug war obviously does much less to stop
addicts, the 3.6 million people, like Downey, estimated to be
dependent on drugs.

Nor do endless arrests and imprisonments protect children. Teen
demand for marijuana has dropped some, but demand for ecstasy has
doubled over the last five years. Half of teens have tried illicit
substances and most say drugs are readily available.

Indeed, it is drug prohibition that has created the sort of black
market that targets kids. No teens wear beepers selling Scotch
whiskey in high school.

So little effect, but at such high cost: the government spent $75
billion on the drug war over the last five years, which is 25 times
the inflation-adjusted spending on Prohibition in the 1920s. Alas,
the expense goes well beyond money.

Two million people now fill federal and state prisons. One-fourth of
state and 60 percent of federal prisoners are serving drug-related
charges; most had no prior convictions for violent crimes.

Then there's pervasive corruption, warrantless searches, endless
wiretaps, abusive property seizures, and hideous mandatory minimums,
which put minor drug sellers in prison for longer than murderers.
Americans are losing their precious freedom birthright.

Instead of making us more secure, such police state tactics create
more crime. As with Prohibition, most drug-related violence is
actually drug law-related violence: in illegal businesses, disputes
cannot be resolved peacefully. For instance, in early January, the
trial began of a Washington, D.C., drug gang thought to have murdered
at least 18 people.

In short, drug prohibition fails any rational, practical cost/benefit
analysis. It also fails in moral terms.

Drug abuse is not only a health but also a spiritual issue, an attack
on the inherent dignity of the human person, something which John
Ashcroft, with strong religious convictions, surely understands. But,
that does not justify the government jailing someone to prevent him
from hurting himself.

Government must punish thieves and murderers, who threaten others. It
should not similarly punish those who hurt only themselves,
especially since many drug users are actually as responsible as the
average drinker. Businesses, churches, families and other community
institutions, not government, should take the lead in combating all
forms of substance abuse.

If Ashcroft is out of step on anything, it is not abortion - the
majority of Americans reject hideous procedures like partial-birth
abortion. Rather, it is his support for the drug war. But, many of
his left-wing critics are no better.

In November, voters passed measures decriminalizing personal use of
marijuana, allowing use of pot by the ill, emphasizing treatment over
punishment and restricting property forfeitures. Most Americans
understand that there is no easy solution for drug abuse, but that
current policy is not working. It is time to treat drug abuse as a
health, moral, and spiritual rather than criminal problem.

JWR contributor Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.