JUST VOTE NO - THE WAR ON DRUGS LOSES AT THE POLLS

The results of the presidential vote may hang in limbo, but there
seems to be little doubt that voters are ready to retreat from this
nation's war on drugs. On November 7 there were drug policy issues on
the ballots of seven states, and voters opted to reform drug laws in
five of them. More and more Americans are concluding that the drug
was has been a colossal failure; rather than curb drug abuse, it has
fueled a murderous underground economy, corroded the civil liberties
of all U.S. citizens, and transformed the world's leading democracy
into the world's leading jailer.

The Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation, which is funded by
financier George Soros, joined with the Campaign for New Drug Policies
to co-sponsor ballot measures in California, Colorado, Massachusetts,
Nevada, Oregon and Utah this fall. (Voters in Alaska defeated an
initiative calling for the legalization of marijuana, which the groups
did not sponsor.)

Their biggest victory was in California, where voters passed
Proposition 36, a measure that will require treatment instead of jail
for those arrested for drug possession or use. The initiative, which
passed by a 61 to 39 percent margin, also provides treatment instead
of a return to prison for parolees who test positive for drugs. Prop
36 allocates $ 120 million a year to pay for expanded drug treatment,
supplemented by job and literacy training and family counseling. "We
won a very significant and hopefully trend-setting victory in
California," says Bill Zimmerman, executive director of the Campaign
for New Drug Policies. "I think Proposition 36 will teach elected
officials that voters want drug policies that are safer, cheaper,
smarter and more effective."

Arizona voters passed a similar proposition four years ago, requiring
drug treatment rather than jail for first-time drug offenders.
According to a recent report by the Arizona Supreme Court, the policy
has been a success. But since California has the highest
incarceration rate for drug use in the nation, and is often seen as a
bellwether for national trends, the state's voters may have given a
nudge to others who bemoaned the disastrous consequences of the drug
war, but were intimidated from speaking out by drug war propaganda.

Since California voters first approved of medical marijuana in 1996,
seven other states have followed suit. In this election, Nevada and
Colorado voters passed initiatives to make marijuana legal for medical
use upon the recommendation of a physician. Residents with certain
illnesses will be eligible for credentials that permit them to possess
or cultivate marijuana for their own use.

When California passed its medical marijuana initiative, Gen. Barry
McCaffrey, the outgoing czar of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, and other officials of the Clinton administration threatened
to take away the license of any doctor who dared to recommend
marijuana for their patients. But the Lindesmith Center and the ACLU
joined several physicians in a lawsuit against McCaffrey's office for
violating their First Amendment rights. The plaintiffs recently won a
ruling that enjoined the federal government from taking any action.

Other states where medical marijuana measures have passed are quietly
adjusting to the provisions of the initiatives. "These laws are on
the books and they're working," Zimmerman says. "Medical patients are
using marijuana with impunity."

Meanwhile, in a major blow to the drug warriors, voters in Oregon and
Utah decided to end the practice that allows law enforcement agencies
to seize and sell the assets of drug crime suspects. Without any
proof of guilt, police in most states can confiscate the property of
any drug suspect and profit from the proceeds of selling it. This
provides a perverse incentive for police to pursue drug cases. Ethan
Nadelman, executive director of the Lindesmith Center, says it's no
coincidence that the number of drug arrests keeps increasing. "They
are double what they were in the '80s, because policy priorities have
shifted in inappropriate ways to target drug offenders," he notes.
"Why? Unfortunately, because that's where the money is."

Property may still be seized with probable cause in Oregon and Utah.
However, the proceeds of the forfeitures will now go into new
education or drug treatment funds instead of into the pockets of law
enforcement agencies. In Oregon, the measure passed with 66 percent
of the vote, and in Utah the margin of victory was 69 percent to 31
percent. "The measures passed with such wide majorities because they
united people across the policy spectrum," Zimmerman says, pointing
out that Utah is one of the most conservative states in the country.
"Liberals interested in defending human rights were united with
conservatives interested in protecting property rights, and both
groups felt their rights were being violated by the current
asset-forfeiture laws. It was a right-left coalition."

The news for drug war opponents wasn't so good in Massachusetts, where
voters defeated an initiative that would have reformed the system of
property seizures and provided treatment instead of jail for
low-level, nonviolent drug offenders. Zimmerman blames the loss on the
measure's offer of treatment to low-level drug dealers as well as
users. "Sympathy may be growing for drug users," he says, "but that
sympathy does not extend to drug dealers."

But Nadelman points out that, since 1996, 17 out of 19 initiatives and
referendums have passed around the country in favor of drug policy
reform. "But in the past year," he adds, "there have been more
victories in state legislatures for drug policy reform than in the
past 25 years put together."

This year Hawaii became the first state to approve medical marijuana
through the legislative process; and along with the North Dakota
legislature, Hawaii decided to legalize the cultivation of industrial
hemp. The Vermont legislature established a methadone treatment
program for heroin addicts. New York, New Hampshire and Rhode Island
all passed pivotal legislation to make sterile needles more available
to addicts to help stem the still-raging AIDS pandemic.

What's more, black leadership finally is jumping on the bandwagon.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York) once led
the charge for the drug war, but now complain about how punitive drug
policies fuel the racial imbalances of the "corrections-industrial
complex." Reps. Maxine Waters (D-California) and John Conyers
(D-Michigan) also have added their voices to the growing chorus. Even
Republicans like New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and Salt Lake City Mayor
Rocky Anderson have become consistent critics of drug war tactics.
Johnson has gone so far as to argue that marijuana should be legalized.

"Those political victories are part of a broader strategy to promote
more sensible drug policies," Nadelman says. "For too long drug
policies have been driven by a combination of ignorance, fear,
prejudice and profit. We want policy based on common sense, science,
public health and human rights."