A TRAGIC MILESTONE IN THE DRUG WAR

Sometime this week, the first St. Valentine's Day week of the Third
Millennium, the United States will pass a milestone: our criminal
justice system will incarcerate its two-millionth prisoner.

That's less than one per cent of our population, but it is the highest
percentage of any "civilized" nation, and it is growing at the fastest
rate, doubling every decade.

New prisons are under construction all over the country, and many
states are farming out their prisoners to other states and to private
corporations. Robbers and rapists are released to make room for
non-violent offenders who have been given sentences without
possibility of parole.

One-third of all inmates today are in prison for non-violent
offenses!

How can this be?

In 1970 the United States faced a drug crisis, largely brought on by
the Viet Nam war. Veterans, protesters and disaffected young people
all found a measure of comfort in psychoactive substances, and newly
popular rock music glorified their use. In this atmosphere Congress
passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention Act, and President
Richard Nixon signed it -- one of several of his actions that in
retrospect seems misguided. That was the beginning of the War on
Drugs, which has resulted in the prison explosion described above. In
1970 the prison population was 200,000 -- now it is ten times greater.

The act was well-intentioned, of course, but it contained a fatal
flaw, a false statement that has caused a disaster. To simplify a
long and complicated story, it classified marijuana with heroin and
LSD as a Schedule I substance, the most dangerous category, not
permitted to be used in medical practice or for any other purpose --
although marijuana has been used as medicine for thousands of years.
It also exempted tobacco (nicotine) and liquor (alcohol) from the act,
although they are clearly psychoactive drugs. Why did Congress do
this? The liquor, tobacco, and pharmaceutical industries persuaded
Congress that they were already adequately regulated by the Food and
Drug Administration, and they believed that they would suffer
competitively if marijuana were legal, controlled and taxed like
alcohol and tobacco.

So marijuana, a much less dangerous substance than alcohol or tobacco,
has been illegal ever since and 800,000 non-violent inmates are now in
prison for using it, at an average cost to taxpayers of $20,000 per
year each -- that's $16 billion. (One woman in Arizona is physically
handicapped; her incarceration will cost $126,000 this year. She sold
four grams of marijuana to a police informant for $20.) That's why I
call it the War Between Drugs -- alcohol and tobacco against
marijuana. Think of the taxes the government could collect on
marijuana if it were legal, instead of the billions they spend trying
to keep people from enjoying it or using it to treat nausea, spasms,
and glaucoma.

Incidentally, the only reason that marijuana is a "gateway" or
"steppingstone" drug is that it is illegal, so you have to get it from
a pusher who would rather sell you cocaine or heroin. If it were legal
and available (with an I.D.) at your local liquor store, it would be
no more of a "gateway" than beer or cigarettes.

Two other aspects of marijuana prohibition should be
mentioned.

In the
name of drug law enforcement Congress has violated at least four
provisions of the Constitution: freedom of speech, freedom from
search and seizure, and states' rights.

Random drug testing of employees and students is also becoming more
widespread, although it has been shown to be counterproductive and a
huge waste of money as well as an invasion of privacy.

The other aspect is the prohibition of hemp, the plant on which
marijuana grows, which is the strongest natural fiber and the raw
material for high-quality paper fabric, rope, food and birdseed.

Hemp grows wild throughout the United States and requires neither
fertilizer nor pesticides. (This does not help its popularity with
fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers, who also have powerful lobbies
in Washington.)

The U.S.A. is the only industrialized country that forbids hemp
culture; we import ours from Canada, when the Office of National Drug
Control Policy permits. They recently declared a total ban on hemp,
even sterilized seeds, and almost put the Boulder Hemp Company out of
business. Yes, right down the road from Summit County -- just call
them for details. (Or call DPFCO.)

Coloradans will vote on medical marijuana in November. Seven states
have already approved it, by popular vote -- but their elected
representatives in Congress don't support it, because of the
above-mentioned lobbies.

Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico is the highest-ranking elected
official to support it. George Shultz, William Buckley, Hugh Downs,
and Steven Jay Gould are among its supporters. The late famous
astrophysicist Carl Sagan used it on a daily basis and said it gave
him insights he would never have had without it. And needless to say,
it has been used by great musicians for most of the past century.

In conclusion, the most significant statistic of all: Alcohol kills
100,000 people every year; tobacco is responsible for 400,000 deaths
annually; marijuana has never been responsible for the death of a
single person.

No wonder the alcohol and tobacco industries don't want it
legalized!

I'm out of space, so please click on the Drug Policy Forum of Colorado
Website at www.drugsense.org/dpfco or e-mail freedom@colorado.net for
further information.