A CLEAR HEAD ON DRUGS

Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey penned a bizarre attack on a Cato Institute
conference that I organized [on October 5, 1999]. Let me respond to his
various criticisms so readers can decide for themselves who is speaking
honestly and forthrightly about drug policy and who is engaging in double
talk.

Gen. McCaffrey gave a very misleading impression to readers when he
suggested our conference proceedings were held behind some sort of
"smokescreen."

Gen. McCaffrey tried to portray himself as a super sleuth for supposedly
exposing our "real agenda," which is drug legalization. Readers should know
that our conference was entitled "Beyond Prohibition: An Adult Approach to
Drug Policies in the 21st Century." It is hardly a secret that Cato
analysts have been calling for drug legalization for more than 20 years. No
one needed the investigative assistance of the drug czar's office to
discover that information. A simple phone call or visit to our web site
would have satisfied anyone's curiosity about our work on the drug war.

Next, Gen. McCaffrey says proponents of drug legalization "go to extremes
to confuse the public about America's efforts to fight drug use." Contrary
to popular belief, he makes the startling claim that the federal government
is not waging a war on drugs. The mission of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, Gen. McCaffrey tells us, is essentially to "educate young
people." This is double talk. The American military is actively engaged in
drug law enforcement -- both here at home and abroad. An innocent young man
by the name of Esequiel Hernandez was shot and killed by a Marine Corps
anti-drug patrol in Texas in 1997. In August, U.S. Army Capt. Jennifer Odom
and four other American soldiers were killed on a drug surveillance mission
in Colombia. Gen. McCaffrey ignores all this and apparently hopes the
public has forgotten all about the circumstances of his own appointment as
drug czar. Recall that when President Clinton was criticized by
congressional Republicans for being "A.W.O.L." (Absent Without Leave) in
the war on drugs, Clinton muted that criticism by tapping Gen. McCaffrey,
previously a four-star general who commanded the operations center for
narcotics interdiction in Latin America.

Gen. McCaffrey tries to put a smiley face on the Drug Enforcement Agency's
aggressive attempts to enforce federal drug laws. He says drug users are
not the "enemy"; they just require the government's "help." By "help," Gen.
McCaffrey means drug users need to be handcuffed, strip-searched, and put
in jail cells. After all, jail is where opponents of drug legalization
believe drug consumers belong. Indeed, Gen. McCaffrey has even threatened
to "help" sick people who wish to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. He
promised to brand them as felons and send them to Leavenworth.

The drug czar claims that drug legalization would "make drugs more
available on our nation's streets." It strains credulity to believe drugs
could be more readily available than they are right now. Despite wasting
billions of taxpayer dollars on ridiculous interdiction programs, few
schools in America can credibly claim to be "drug-free." The fact of the
matter is that it is more difficult for young people to get their hands on
a bottle of beer than it is to get a marijuana cigarette.

One problem that was addressed at our conference, but that was not
considered by Gen. McCaffrey, is the dilution of our constitutional
liberties. Police officers are now seizing cash, cars, boats and homes from
people who have not been convicted of any crime. No-knock and warrantless
searches have become routine. And citizens who report for jury service must
now be carefully screened for anyone who does not support the drug war. The
toll that this war has taken on our Bill of Rights is significant.

For too many years the debate over drug policy has been framed in terms of
how we should escalate the war on drugs. How much more money should we
spend? Where should we put the money? By sponsoring a conference on drug
policy, our hope was to expand the parameters of the debate so that
alternatives to prohibition would be considered. No one at our conference
suggested that drug legalization would be a panacea. Drug abuse is
certainly a problem for those involved in it -- and for their friends and
family. The point that was made by Gov. Gary Johnson (and others) was
simply that drug prohibition is counterproductive. Like alcohol
prohibition, drug prohibition creates many more problems than it solves.

There is a widening credibility gap between the drug czar and the American
public. A growing number of Americans are concluding that the drug war has
been given a chance to work, but that it has failed. Gen. McCaffrey may
enjoy support on Capitol Hill, but his double talk is increasingly seen for
what it is outside the Beltway.